


Late Bloomer

by Estirose



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, NaNoWriMo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-30
Updated: 2008-11-30
Packaged: 2020-06-28 09:53:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 50,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19809859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: Emery discovers a family she never knew that she had.(Nanowrimo ~2008)





	Late Bloomer

**Author's Note:**

> Hayfork, CA is a real place and I did consult guides and maps to the best of my ability (and the internet of the time). Any errors are due to my lack of ability to research and the fact that I still have yet to get there. I also researched harp making and the business of harps; again, any errors made are on my head.
> 
> I'm including this at AO3 because, like "Delicate Appendages", this was based on my brain wandering off from a premise of a tv show - in this case, Kamen Rider Kiva. Kent is my proto-Otoya; Emery would be Wataru's counterpart. I formed the idea before I ever saw the show, and of course, it took a far different turn.
> 
> I would return to the Enshanti universe in a later novel, but it's not finished so I'm not posting it here.

Nothing ever happened in Hayfork. Well, apart from the occasional fire during the summer season, when nature or careless hikers or not so careless folk set fire to Trinity National Forest. Emery had grown up with the occasional fires, as did everybody else who lived in Hayfork.

Honestly, she couldn't ever imagine living anyplace else. Even Redding seemed too big, even if she'd been there for school. She couldn't imagine living in, say, Sacramento, their huge state capitol only a few hours' ride away. It seemed like nobody there would know their neighbors the way that people up in Hayfork did.

People here cared for you. They knew you, you went to school with their kids, your kids (if you had any) went to school with their kids. Emery felt safe in Hayfork.

Hayfork was a good place to live, if you wanted peace and quiet. And if one made harps, one liked the peace and quiet. Of course, it was harder to make a living in Hayfork, especially with the current economy. Her father was having to offer harp lessons and other things to keep the business afloat. And a lot of people didn't want to bump all the way to Hayfork for harp lessons, therefore her father was out a lot, and she was entrusted with making the harps and packaging the orders and taking them down to the post office or meeting the shipping van.

But she wouldn't have traded it for the world. There was something in craftwork that made it all worthwhile. The bureaucrats in Sacramento pushed paper around, lawyers might get all fancy with their words. All Emery cared about was carving lines and putting the wood together and stringing the instruments. With some computer help, the harps were hand-made, and all the work was worth it to see the customer happy.

One reason that her father trusted her was that she had steady hands and she dealt with customers well. Rarely did anybody complain about the harps she made; KentPet Harps had a good reputation, and she was proud to say that she was a part of it. People paid for quality.

She dropped off her latest package with the post office. "Latest, huh?" Cindy the postal clerk teased. She was local; most big city people didn't want to live in little Hayfork. Though some did. Cindy had been a year or two ahead of Emery in school; she and her husband brought in enough for their one child, a mop-headed moppet named Angela.

"How's Angela?" Emery asked. "Ready to start school?"

"Eager and raring to go," the proud mom pronounced. "You? Got a boyfriend that nobody knows about?"

"I am... alas... still single," Emery said, putting a hand to her brow dramatically. "Really, is there anybody Dad would ever approve of?"

"Mr. Kent 'nobody is good for my kid' Peters?" Cindy asked, eyebrows raised. "I remember when Dan dared date you in high school."

"Well, he wants somebody who's into the harp and isn't a clumsy oaf," Emery said. "The only people I've ever dated didn't last very long. I've met a few of his friends, and they're either childless or their kids don't like me. Dad wants me to date one of them, but... I just can't."

"Everybody's a little eccentric up here," Cindy said knowingly. "But that's the point."

"Yeah," Emery agreed. "Dad's... well, I'd like to get married someday, but it's not like I've looked a whole lot, and Dad thinks I'm still a teenager." She fiddled with her necklace while Cindy weighed her package and tapped out the amount, and then she paid for it.

"I think all Dads do that," Cindy said. "Think we're still teenagers, I mean. Except he lets you run the shop, doesn't he?"

"True," Emery said. "It's just that if I ever marry, I have a feeling that me and the groom are going to have to elope and... well, what would happen to KenPet Harps?"

"You've got a point," Cindy said, handing her the receipt. "I wouldn't want something to happen to my family's business either."

"Thanks. So, you see the problem?"

Cindy smiled. "Someday, you'll find someone."

"I hope so," Emery said. "Speaking of someones, I better go. I've got a customer coming to pick up a harp."

"Want to save the shipping fees?" Cindy asked.

"Must be," Emery said. "I'm not complaining. Probably will want a tour of the shop, so I'll have to clean up first."

Cindy nodded. "Have a good day," she said. "Maybe if it's a he, your Dad will approve of him?"

"Maybe," Emery allowed. "It is a guy."

She went home to the workshop. She hadn't been kidding about doing some cleaning. Though those few customers who did pick up their harps in person - and who would want to anyway, given Hayfork's remoteness - didn't always want a tour, she always presumed they did. The harpist in question, Guy Sumners, hadn't said anything about wanting a tour, but one never knew.

Before she realized it, the doorbell was ringing. Or rather, the gate's bell, since they kept the place locked except when they were expecting deliveries. The delivery folk and the mail folk all knew the routine, and they knew that KenPet Harps wouldn't keep them waiting.

Emery cursed at the lack of total preperation and hurried to answer the intercom. "KenPet Harps," she said.

"Hello, this is Guy Sumners, I'm here to pick up my harp." He didn't sound uncertain at all, like some arrivals did because they didn't advertise their presence much.

"I'll be right out," Emery said, taking one more look over the workshop. She then hurried out to the gate, unlocking it. "I'm Emery Peters," she said. "Please, come in."

"Guy," he said, kissing her hand unexpectedly. His eyebrows rose as he did so, but whatever he was thinking, he didn't reveal to her. "You've got lovely craftsman's hands."

"I make a lot of the harps," she admitted. "Here, drive your truck down to the end of the driveway; it'll make hauling the harp out much, much easier."

"Your wish is my command," he joked, and put the truck in gear. Emery appraised it as he did so, a white pickup with a roof. Good for the harp in transit, not so good to get it in.

She wondered if they'd have to pop the roof and ship it to him, or if it would fit. It might. The roof was high enough. The harp might fit.

Emery closed and locked the gate, and then followed him to the house. He'd gotten out of his truck and was busy locking it; it had to be a habit, because Hayfork was really safe. There wasn't much crime in Hayfork, after all.

He had to be from a big city.

"So, where are you from?" Emery asked. "I know that your mailing address is in Flagstaff, Arizona."

Guy laughed. "Yeah, but only because I have to live there. My family's rich, and so I also have an artist's studio down in Sedona, that's where the harp's going. Sedona's my home away from home."

"You own two places?" Emery opened the door to the office of the studio. She'd open the wide door later for getting the harp out.

"I make enough to afford both," he said. "See, my family wanted me in finance, not the arts. I do my job, play a few gigs, I even have a CD out. But I'm in finance to keep the family happy."

"My dad wants me making harps," Emery said. "So I sympathize." She wondered if he'd be willing to give up everything to- no, if his family was anything like hers, they wouldn't see the point of giving up everything to become a harp maker, and she probably would be lost if she had to come to a big city and attend parties and get-togethers, or whatever financiers' wives did.

Besides, why would she want a relationship anyway? She had her harps, she had her father, she was good at what she did and she loved Hayfork.

Maybe that conversation at the post office made her realize that she might end up as one of those women with forty zillion cats and no husband. Cindy and Herb were happy, Angela was beautiful. And KentPet Harps wouldn't survive if her father didn't take someone on or if she didn't have a child, and yet her father had yet to find a boyfriend that he liked.

"I don't blame him," Guy said as they stepped inside the office. "KentPet Harps are some of the best out there. I'd hate to see such a tradition go away. Are you married, or... are you single? I didn't know you existed; you're not mentioned on the website, nor are there any pictures of you."

"Single," she responded. Her father had objected to any pictures of her being shown, or her being mentioned. She had no clue why, as she was known and he was proud of her, but he had adamantly refused to reveal her otherwise.

"Wonder why? My family announces to the world that I'm a financial wiz," he mused. "To be honest, I'd prefer to be Guy Sumners, harpist star. Hell, I even have a website. For my CDs."

"I'd love to hear you play," she teased. "Let's make sure you're paid and your harp is to your satisfaction."

"As my lady wishes," he smiled back.

She checked his invoice, then led him to the workroom, where his completed harp waited. It was a full-sized harp, a pedal harp. Pedals were some of their most expensive and heavy harps, due to their mechanisms. In some ways, the lever harps were simpler to make and to carry around, and the smaller celtic harps were better sellers than the more expensive, heavier pedal harps.

But if a customer wanted a pedal, her father was more than willing to make one. Or have Emery make one, at least. She actually liked making the pedal harps more than the celtic ones, but the celtic ones were the ones that paid the rent.

"It looks wonderful," he said, sitting down at the stool, which he adjusted. His fingers touched the strings, and after he adjusted things, he began to play.

It was a wonderful song, one that seemed beautiful and alien and haunting all at the same time. The song seemed harsh at points, as harsh as a harp could get, but in other parts it was gentle. She made a note to ask him what it was, after he was sure that the harp was to his satisfaction. But at the moment, she just couldn't do anything but listen. The man obviously knew his harps and his music. Maybe he was a composer as well, and that was one of his works.

"Do you compose?" she asked, when the music was done.

"One or two pieces," he said, relaxing. He grinned. "If you're asking if I wrote *that* piece, then heavens, no! No, that was written several hundred years ago, though the composer and I are *vaguely* related."

"It's beautiful," she said. "What's it called? Who wrote it?"

"Most people don't like it," he said, getting up. "It sounds too harsh to most peoples' ears. I'm glad you appreciate it."

"It's very beautiful. But I've never heard it before," Emery said, trying a second time to pry the name out of the man. "Do you have it on one of your CDs?"

He shook his head. "No, it's a family piece, so it would be too intimate to play to someone outside the family. I only played it for you because I wanted you to hear it."

"I'm flattered," she said. "Especially since I'm not family." If it was a family piece, then indeed it was very flattering to get a chance to hear it. Or he could be modest. "But you said most people don't like it?"

"Okay, I *have* played it a few times before to people outside the family," he admitted sheepishly. "I've never had any of them like it, though."

"So, you've had prior girlfriends," Emery guessed.

"A few," he admitted. "I have yet to meet someone who's appreciated it as you do."

"I have a good ear for music. If you make harps, you have to be able to play them." Nobody could make a harp without loving the harp. If you didn't love the harp, then it showed. Of course, there were huge manufacturing firms that made harps, but there was a good reason why people came to KentPet Harps.

"True," he said. "But I've dated other musicians, and none of them seem to appreciate the piece as much as you do."

She smiled. "I don't know why. I like it."

"Here, let me play you another," he said. He started plucking out another tune. It was interesting; one melody, interspliced with another, sometimes in parts disharmonious, and yet as she listened, she could hear the two melodies begin to weave together in the end until they were whole.

"That's beautiful too," she said. "And that one is?"

"Lathey's Song," he said. "A distant cousin of mine wrote that. She'd been in love with a man, so she made herself into what the man wanted. At the end, they had a baby girl together. But he found out that she wasn't what he wanted her to be, so he killed her and took their daughter." Guy took a deep breath. " The song was written a month before she died."

"That's so sad," Emery said, folding her hands. "What happened to the man and her daughter?"

Guy shook his head. "We don't know," he said. "Her family's been looking for her for years, but they couldn't find her. They miss her, and hope someday to find her. They hope - we all do - that he hasn't turned her against her own family. He was apparently a very cruel man. I don't know what she saw in him. Nobody does."

"How long ago was this?" Emery asked.

"About thirty-five," Guy said. "Maybe forty. I don't know the entire story, but if I encountered that man... well, I wouldn't kill him, but I wouldn't stand in the way if somebody else did. And that baby girl was family - family she deserves, rather than her father, who probably hates her for being her mother's daughter. If she's still alive, that is."

"But if he hated her, why would he spare their daughter?" Emery asked.

Guy shrugged. "Don't know. There's rumors that he thought she was a monster, and that her daughter would be a monster too. Who knows what people who hate think?"

"Yeah," Emery agreed. "I feel sorry for his daughter, then."

"I feel sorry for her, too," Guy said. "But... I'm sure that someday I'll be able to write the happy ending."

Emery looked at him askance, but he got up instead of continuing the thought. "So, is the harp to your satisfaction?"

He grinned at her, as if relieved to be out of that conversation. "Yes, it is, very much."

"Then, let's go and make sure you're paid, and then we'll get your new harp out to your truck."

"I'd like that," he said. "I didn't mean to bore you with the family history."

"It's always good to know your roots," she said. "And it sounds like you've got a lovely family history, if tragic."

"Some tragic stories might have happy endings," Guy told her as she led him into the office. "You never know."

"Yeah, you never know," she agreed. She gave him the invoice. "Sign here, and we'll get the harp packaged up and into the truck." She studied him. "You think it'll fit?"

"If not, I'm going to rent a van and come back," he said. "Redding should have a rent-a-car place."

"One of our customers used Budget, but I think they either rented from where they were or flew into Sacramento," Emery said. "And they didn't have a pedal harp."

"And I do," he said sheepishly. "Not the best of decisions, was it?"

"We'll see, don't give up hope yet." She busied herself with making sure all the paperwork was done, then they headed back to the workshop. Wrapping the harp for protection, as if it were going to be shipped, she then shifted it onto the small motor-assisted cart. She was good at moving things; she was a bit stronger than average, a fact that saved them from having to hire another employee. Though her father had encouraged her into girly things instead of sports, saying that it was unfair for her to compete against all the poor boys and girls in class who weren't so strong.

He must have really wanted a son. Emery didn't know much about her mother - her father refused to talk about the woman - but Guy was right. She wasn't on the website, she was never mentioned, it was as if her father was ashamed to admit that she was a girl, and a strong one - physically - at that. She couldn't cary on the family name; unless her husband took hers, future generations of the family would not have the surname "Peters".

Of course, if she didn't get married - and she somehow doubted that she'd get someone if her father never approved of anyone - there would be nobody to carry on the family business anyway.

"You're pretty strong," Guy said, looking impressed. "You train weights?"

"Born that way," she said, and then she remembered what her father had told her to tell the customers. "And... um... trained weights."

"Really?" Guy asked, like he didn't quite believe her. "A lot of women in my family train weights and are really strong too."

"Oh," she said. "It's sounding like your family and mine have a lot in common."

"Wonder if we're related?" he mused, as she triggered the garage door open and started to move the cart down to where his truck was.

"Could be; there's a lot I don't know about Mom's side of the family." She rolled the cart up to the back of the pickup and eyed it. "We'll try this, and if it doesn't work, you might want to come back here with something that can take it, like a truck. Bigger truck, I mean."

"If it doesn't, thanks for trying anyway," he said. "Need help lifting?"

"Motor will do some of that for us, but the two of us will probably need to do the majority of it."

So, the two of them lifted the harp. Emery had to admit that Guy was actually pretty strong himself, but she tried to do most of the heavy lifting, "assisted" by the lift function of the cart. But try as they might, the harp plus its padding was just too big for the inside of the truck, by mere inches.

"Shit," Guy said after the fourth or fifth try. "Guess I'm going back to Redding or Sacramento for a truck that this can fit in. Was hoping that I wasn't going to have to do that."

"If you're going to do that, your best bet is to rent in Sacramento, leave your truck there, and fly back to their airport."

He grinned. "I've never seen Sacramento Airport. Might be worth the experience. You?"

"Once or twice," she admitted. Her father didn't like her going beyond Redding, but sometimes things had to be done, so she was the one who made the drive to Sacramento. Neither the city nor the airport were, in her opinion, much to write home about. She'd seen Sacramento, all full of towers and building more by the day, and she had no desire to live there. "I do remember seeing signs for the car rental places, there's got to be places that rent trucks. If they're not at the airport, I'm sure you could get a cab to one of them."

"I'll try to look into that before I drive all the way home," he said. "Thanks for trying, though. I'll be sure to bring something we can actually fit the harp in."

"We'll hold it for you," Emery promised. Her father would not be pleased, but a customer was a customer, and he had meant well.

"Thanks," he said, grinning. "I won't take up any more of your time. I'll call you when I'm coming back. And if there's any fees for holding it, let me know and I'll pay them, too."

"Let me go up and open the front gate," she said, doing so as he got in his truck. Shortly after that, he was backing out and on the way towards town.

She hoped he came back, and soon. She wanted to hear more of his music. Fiddling with her necklace, she closed the gate and went back inside.

"So, the customer did not pick up the harp," her father said, looking at it, all still wrapped in the packing materials. "Did he at least pay?"

"Everything's paid, he's feeling stupid, and he said he'd call when he was ready to attempt pickup on that again."

"Could have shipped it cheaper than what he's probably going to pay," her father grumbled. "Some customers...."

"He also promised to pay any fees for having to have us store the thing for a bit longer." Emery grinned at her father's exasperation. Though he did have a point; the harp was taking up some space that they could have used.

"I suppose he's not the worst customer ever," he said, running a hand through his hair. "So, what did you think of him?"

Emery pondered that. "Nice. Friendly. Rich, apparently. He's part of some financial firm and plays semi-professionally on the side. Has his own studio. He played me some of his music. From what I heard, he could go pro, though he says that most people don't like the songs that he played for me." She looked at her father. "He's interested in the harp, Dad, not me."

Her father snorted. "Who wouldn't be interested in you, Emery? You're a bright young woman, talented, and would make a great wife for anyone. I just happen to want you to find someone that's worthy of your talents and won't use you."

"I'm sure that the fact that I'm plain and have calluses didn't escape his attention," she said. "Plus, I'm a small-town girl. The guy's from Flagstaff and he's in the financial industry. Why would he be interested in a plain girl like me?"

"I wasn't any great looker myself - after all, look at the scar I got when I was your age - but your mother certainly didn't let that stop her," her father said bitterly. "She was a fancy artist woman from a big city, rich, and had no qualms about seducing me. I'm sure you'd have grown up a big city girl and sleeping your way to a husband by this point if you'd stayed with her. Thankfully, she's dead now, and I made sure I got you. There was no way I was going to let you turn into her, and I'm not going to let that happen to you now." He let out a breath. "Right now, I'm not sure the politicians in Washington and Sacramento will let us keep the family business between all the taxes and regs, but I wouldn't mind having another generation of the family. I just want the right guy for you, Emery."

"Too bad there aren't many single guys in the field," Emery joked weakly.

"Yes, that is a problem. I'm willing to teach the craft for the right man, but... you were playing instruments as far back as I remember. Music is in your blood, and if there was anything good about your mother, she and her family did have music in their veins too. Between the two of us, Emery, you came out really good."

"Thanks, Dad," she said, blushing a bit.

"I really wish your mother had turned out to be a good woman, Emery, because I did love her... or at least who she pretended to be. That's why I don't want to have you make the same mistakes. I want you to be happy."

"How did you meet mom?" Emery asked, settling down on the stool that Guy had vacated some time earlier.

"Well, your mom and I were at a music performance at the same time - both scheduled to play, you see." He leaned back against the wall, as if trying to hold it up. "She was an amazing harpist, Emery, even with everything that happened, I never destroyed the recordings of her music. Tapes, back then. I actually had them converted onto CD a year or two back."

"You loved her," Emery realized. "Kind of."

"Thought I did," her father corrected. "Turned out she was faking some things. But not the music. She was a genuine talent and I'm glad you're like her in some ways."

"Can I hear the CD?" Emery asked. "I didn't even know that you had her music."

"Sure," he said. "Why not? I don't regret that part of who you are." He disappeared out the door, probably going to the main house. After a few minutes, he returned, a CD in case in his hand. "Had two CDs made, just in case. Your mother might have betrayed me... but her music never has."

Emery had to wonder if he'd have liked Guy. She liked Guy, from the limited contact, but artist or no, he was the exact type that had betrayed her father: rich, an artist, big city. She just couldn't see her father accepting him. And besides, she really didn't feel like she'd be comfortable in Flagstaff. Sedona, maybe, if she could check to see how big the place was. She vaguely remembered an artist community there.

"Where was mom from?" Emery asked. With her luck, Guy was probably from the same city or related to her.

"Boston, she told me," her father said. "And I guess that it was true. She told me that her father taught at Boston University. Though I remember when she started forgetting what lies she told and told me he taught at Berklee."

"The music school," Emery said, and her father nodded. "I didn't think that was that old."

"1945," her father said, closing his eyes. "Berklee was founded in 1945."

"So, Mom was from Boston," she said. She tried to imagine being from Boston. It sounded like such an exotic place, the pictures she'd seen painting it as full of old houses and old history, of brick buildings and historic structures. She was sure that parts of it were more modern, though. Someday, she'd probably have to see Boston, maybe before she died.

"Yep. When your mom died, I wanted you far away from there. I admit, Boston wouldn't have been a bad place for you to grow up, but I couldn't have stood the interference from her family, which had no love for me. So, when your mom died, I moved across the coast to California, and found Hayfork. Since of course there was the lumber industry here at the time, it was a perfect place to get the wood for our harps. Changed my name - yours too - so that we could live in peace. I wasn't going to let you grow up with that crowd, and as far as they were concerned, I was some uneducated brute that didn't deserve to love her. I admit, I wasn't raised in fancy schools, but at least I wasn't a snob."

"Changed our names?" Emery echoed. "Why?"

"Well, your mom's folk had plenty of connections, but not enough to keep me from having custody of you," her father said. "And I didn't want to be harassed, so we went from Peterson to Peters, I became Kent, and you became Emery. I wanted you to grow up safe and sane, you see. But I still loved your mother, and I wanted your name to remind me forever of hers. Her name was Jade, so I called you Emery. Thought about naming you Ruby, but the association was still too raw, so I called you Emery. Tough little material, Emery. Sharper than you think it is. I knew as soon as I thought of it that the name would be perfect for you."

"What was my original name?" Emery asked, suddenly curious. What would she have grown up to be, had she grown up with her mother's family?

"Don't remember," her father said. "Some pretentious name that only some rich family could have thought of. Out here, even if your name was weird, it at least wasn't pretentious."

"They thought it was weird at school," Emery admitted. "But at least every female teacher at school could spell it."

Her father laughed. "Yeah, that turned out to be an advantage. Your teachers loved that name. I never had a school newsletter that had your name misspelled, and you were in so many of them. Second in the middle school spelling bee, athletic awards, everything. My little overachiever. If it hadn't been for your relatives out East, I would have shouted your achievements to the world. But I didn't dare." He seemed to sober at that. "Your mother's family are not good folk, Emery. They're involved with things that I don't dare speak of. I'm sure, had you grown up with them, you'd be seducing men left and right. Some of them might have made it through the night alive."

"Dad?" Emery asked. "Why wouldn't they have - are the people on my mom's family's side mobsters?"

Her father laughed again. "You could say that, Emery. All I know is that I didn't want my daughter to turn into an overeducated elitist killer. And I'm proud to say that I raised you right. You're a good, humble girl, and growing up here has been good for you."

“Thanks, dad.” She really couldn’t imagine growing up in a big city either, though she did have to wonder if her mother’s family was as bad as as her father made it sound. “Dad, were you and mom ever married, or….”

“Your mom’s relatives would have distinctly disliked me as a son-in-law,” her father said, sorting through invoices. “Hell, your mother and I were out of each others’ lives by the time you were born. I didn’t even know of you until just before your mom died.”

“But you got custody anyway,” Emery said thoughtfully.

“As I said, no way was I going to leave my beautiful baby girl in their hands.” He put the invoices down and reached for the CD player. “It’s a decision I’ve never regretted.”

Emery nodded and went back to work. There were two small celtic harps that needed stringing; she could hardly be hanging around doing nothing. Behind her, her mother’s music started to play. Her father was right; her mother knew how to play, though she seemed to be a violinist, not a harpist, at least on that music. It occurred to her that she didn’t know what kind of instrument her mother played; maybe she played several. Dad had said her mother was from a rich family, after all.

She had been so absorbed in her work that she didn’t realize how late she’d been working until the phone rang. “KentPet Harps,” she answered automatically.

“Emery!” Guy’s voice was cheerful. “It looks like I’ll be in the area again tomorrow – mom wants me to do some business in Redding since I’m here and I don’t have the harp. I was wondering if you’d like to have some coffee – do you have time for that, or are you really busy?”

“I’m sure I can take off an hour or so,” she said. There was nothing so binding that it couldn’t wait for the glue to set – the three small harps that needed work next could hold for an hour. “When do you estimate coming in?”

“I’m hoping just after lunch – you have a good coffeeshop there?”

“Irene’s Delights,” she said. “Right off the main drag between Main and School.”

“Irene’s Delights, got it,” Guy said, as if taking it down. “You want me to call you when I get in town?”

“Yeah, and I’ll meet you there,” Emery said. Despite everything, she kind of liked him. And if nothing else, at least she’d get an idea of the music scene in that part of Arizona. It might help their business.

And maybe if her father met Guy, he’d approve. And Guy might turn out to be willing to give up everything to move to Hayfork, if things went well. After all, Redding was nearby and Sacramento only a few hours’ drive, maybe four to four and a half in traffic.

“See you then,” Guy said.

Emery smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “See you then.”

She put down the phone, closing the connection, and contemplated the harp. She’d have to break the news to her father at some point, sooner would be better than later. She was thirty-five years old, after all. And the family business needed a new generation. And if not, at least she might have a pleasant lunch.

Going back into the house, she found her father looking at some bills. “It’s not good, is it?” she asked.

“Damn costs and taxes and everything,” her father said. “Tell me that we’re going to be able to ship out a harp tomorrow.”

“Two, barring final tests,” she said. “I’ll take them downtown tomorrow.”

“You sure you don’t want to wait for the delivery truck?” her father asked, smiling a bit at that. “That’s how things are usually done.”

“Well,” she said, girding herself up a bit, “Our last customer with a bad sense of dimensions and the pickup truck? He asked me to have lunch with him.”

She waited expectantly for his reaction. He took a deep breath. “Emery, are you sure about this?”

Emery nodded, sitting down. “I’m thirty-five, Dad, if there’s going to be a next generation of Peters, I might want to start looking. And I trust you to tell me if you find out something good or bad about him. If he works out, I want him to be someone you can work with.”

Her father smiled. “Ah, Emery. Always with the practical side. Would it surprise you that I’ve already called a friend or two that might be able to make sure he’s not a complete fake?”

“If you didn’t, Dad, I’d be worried about you,” she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Are they going to know before I go to lunch?”

“I’m hoping at least something,” her father said. “Be careful, Emery, okay? I need to go to Sacramento tomorrow, I can’t be there for you.”

“But you’ll be there for me in spirit,” she said. “And that’s all I could ever ask for.” Her father needed assurance, that she knew. She knew that he didn’t want her to repeat his mistake with her mother, and she didn’t blame her. He loved her, that was what counted.

“I’ll pray,” her father said, “That he is a good man. And maybe I can go to Sacramento with a clear conscience.”

“I hope so, too,” she said. She hugged her father tightly, and he hugged her back. “Call me on the cell phone as soon as you can if it turns out something’s wrong.”

“You’re my only daughter,” her father said. “Why would I do anything less?”

She was working on a harp when the phone rang. She knew that the caller had to be one of three things – her father (though he preferred to call the house line), Guy, or another customer. “KentPet Harps,” she said. Her father never wanted her to answer the phone with her name for some reason.

“Emery? It’s Guy. I’m in town, and… well… a bit lost.”

She had a vision of him driving down the highway, trying to find the coffee shop. How in the hell he could miss *anything* on the main drag, she didn’t know. "How lost?"

"Well, I see the fairgrounds...." he sounded sheepish. "Can we say that I get lost easily and I managed to break the GPS?"

Emery rolled her eyes. Her Dad had nothing to worry about with this one. "Okay, if you see the entrance to the fairgrounds, you're going the wrong way. I want you to turn around head towards us, then turn right on Old Manzanita road. Go up Old Manzanita, turn left on the 3 freeway intersection, the cafe is on your left between Main and School."

"Turn around, then right on Old Manzanita, then left at the 3, then cafe is on the left. Got it. Sorry."

"I'll start up there now," she said. "I'll meet you there."

"Um, sure. Can I have your cellphone number? Just in case?"

Emery blinked. "I have to admit, I don't own a cellphone."

"How can you not own a cellphone in this day and age?" Guy asked. "I've never met anybody who did. Wait, some of my aunts don't, but they're on the old-fashioned side."

"Okay, the business has a cellphone," Emery said. "But I rarely leave Hayfork. Most of the time I have a prepaid for emergencies in the truck, but it's solely for emergencies."

"It must be nice to live in a small town," Guy said wistfully. "Okay, I'll meet you there."

"I'll call the cafe to look out for their lost customer," Emery teased. "The current owner went to school with me."

"No, that won't be necessary," he said hastily. "I think I can follow directions. See you there!"

He hung up the phone so quickly that she had to laugh. Checking over everything, she locked up the workshop, started up the truck, and headed towards the cafe.

The cafe itself was fairly simple. Irene McAdell and her husband - along with her sister Melanie Richmond and her husband - ran the place. With one or two other family members, they were fully staffed, the tables comfortable enough for twelve families. The fare was simple - Mr. Richmond liked his burgers and shakes, and Irene could do wonders with grilled cheese sandwiches, and of course they handled the coffee needs of the entire town. They even had a to-go counter for those who had picked up the speed of the big city and needed their coffee then and there instead of waiting like the rest of the town did.

Emery parked the truck in the lot behind the place, noting with pleasure that Guy had managed not to get too lost - he was fiddling with the roof of his pickup. "Managed to get here, did you?" she teased.

"Yeah," he said. "I didn't know it was possible to get lost this easily in a small town. Big places like Flagstaff, yes, but... I see a GPS in my future when I get home. I'm sure the family will appreciate it too. I could get lost in a wet paper bag. Or, as the family will tell you, three blocks from home. Well, three blocks from the babysitter's house."

"How'd that happen?" Emery asked as he finished up wit his truck and they headed to the front and into the restaurant.

"Well, I was coming home from school," Guy said, "And mom was out for some kind of trip, so a friend of the family's agreed to take care of me for the afternoon. Of course, I'd only been there once, so I turned on what I thought was the right street, and then I wandered there and wandered there and wandered there until the lady taking care of me showed up. Turns out that I had the right idea, but she lived two blocks over. And that was before you could track a kid with GPS. Way before."

Emery laughed. "I see." She waved hello to Irene, who was making a milkshake.

"Sit wherever you like, Emery," Irene said. "Don't be shy."

"I haven't been shy since that incident in twelfth grade," Emery joked. She settled herself and Guy at her favorite booth, one sitting against the far wall.

"Shy?" Guy asked as the two of them sat down. He examined a menu, one that Emery didn't need.

"It's a joke," Emery explained. "When we were going to high school up in Redding, there was this guy who was determined to date me. I was so speechless - everybody in Hayfork knows how tough my Dad is about the guys I date - that everybody teased me about being shy."

"It seems almost like he's trying to keep you for himself," Guy said, folding his hands. "Or something like that. What do you recommend on the menu?"

"Tomato soup and Irene's famous grilled cheese sandwiches," Emery said. "And it's... Dad had a really bad experience with Mom and he's worried that I'll make the same mistake. I don't blame him."

"Is everybody in a small town this way?" Guy asked, leaning forward.

"No, Dad's just... Dad," Emery said. She wondered if her father's lack of call had meant that Guy was okay. It would be nice to have her father not be paranoid about things. "Hi, Irene."

"So, who's this handsome guy and where have you been hiding him?" Irene joked, coming forward to take their order. "Irene McAdell."

"Guy Sumners," Guy responded, turning a huge grin on Irene. "I'm here from Flagstaff with a total inability to measure dimensions right or navigate around town."

"He got lost on his way here," Emery added.

"How do you get lost in Hayfork?" Irene teased. She, like Emery, knew that it was indeed possible to get very lost in their town, but they were humoring the big city guy.

"Taking the wrong turn, apparently," Guy said. "If it weren't for Emery here, I'd probably be dead of starvation and haunting the fairgrounds."

Irene cracked up. "You could do that, but I suspect we'd send the police first. Nice looking spirit, though, if you could die without starving to death."

"Hey, we could use another ghost to bring tourists to Hayfork, what do you think, Irene?" Emery asked, continuing the joke.

"I'm not complaining if the tourists come," Irene said. "Hopefully they won't get lost like your gentleman here. Heaven knows that we could use the boost to our local economy. But since he *didn't* get lost, what would you like to order?"

"Two tomato soups, two grilled cheese sandwiches, two coffees, regular," Emery said with confidence.

"The usual, then," Irene said with a wink. "For two."

"You've got it," Emery told her. "The usual."

She watched Irene go off to hand her husband the order, and then turned back to Guy. "As I said, Irene and I went to school together. We played together. Heck, we even went to church together."

"Well, as long as the two of you don't have any plans to leave me wandering to death in the fairgrounds," Guy joked, "I don't mind."

"Nah, but it would boast the local economy. Too bad," Emery said with a grin.

"You remind me of my aunt with all the morbid jokes," Guy said. "I swear, a morbid joke for every occasion. Are you sure you and I aren't related?"

Emery shrugged. "Well, I don't know much about Mom's side of the family, so...."

"What happened to your mom?" Guy asked. "Did your parents divorce?"

"Well... Dad says she died shortly after I was born," Emery said. "And he got custody of me. All I know is that they're rich, live in Boston - okay, outside it - and Dad doesn't like them and they don't like him. I think he prefers to forget as much about Mom as possible."

Guy frowned, and nodded. "I have family in Boston as well - that bunch where that distant cousin was murdered."

"And her baby stolen?" Emery asked, remembering.

"Yes, the one where I played the song," Guy said. He examined the wall, wallpapered in floral designs. Faded ones, because Irene said they added ambience. "My missing family."

"It's funny how these connections happen," Emery mused. "That it happened in Boston, just like where my family's from."

"Well, I admit, she was a *distant* relative," Guy said. "But I liked her a lot when I met her. She was an extremely nice woman, and I've heard her baby girl was absolutely adorable. I did never meet the baby girl before she was kidnapped. I keep hoping that somewhere out there, she's still alive."

"She was a musician, right? Like you?" Emery asked.

Guy grinned. "Harpist and violinist, and I hear she played a mean drum set. Actually, I think she loved anything that made music. But harp and violin the best."

"Wow," Emery said. "I think I would have liked her." She couldn't imagine a musician into *everything*, but apparently Guy's relative had been.

"Everybody did," Guy said. "And then she got killed because of one ex-lover in a rage."

Emery nodded sadly. "There must be a lot of deaths in Boston." It had to be a huge city, larger than Sacramento. Sacramento seemed so huge to her, how big Boston had to be! It sounded like his family and hers had both suffered losses in the place.

"I have to admit, I don't know," Guy said, "But it is kind of interesting that your mother and my cousin died there."

"Well, it's a big historic city," Emery pointed out. "I want to go there someday, just to see it."

Guy grinned. "Hey, maybe you can find your family there."

"I'm sure there are a lot of rich people in Boston," Emery said. "How would I ever find my mom's family? I barely know her name."

"What's her name?" Guy asked. "Maybe that'll help."

Closing her eyes, Emery thought of what her father had said. "Ruby. My mother's name was Ruby."

"What a coincidence," Guy said, sounding thoughtful. "That's my cousin's name too. But my cousin was murdered."

"Well, I don't think my mom was," Emery said. "All Dad says is that she died, and I'd hope he'd mention something like her dying like that."

"I see." Guy said. She opened her eyes to find he was smiling again. "So, Boston's a big town for you?"

"*Sacramento's* a big town for me," Emery pointed out. "Dad and I came off the freeway the first time, and it was so compact and so full of places. We'd come for a convention, and I thought how easy it was to get lost. In fact, I got lost too."

"Hard to believe," Guy joked. "You and me, with bad senses of direction."

"We probably shouldn't have kids, then," Emery pointed out. Then she blinked. Where had *that* come from?

"Yeah, the *kids* would die of starvation in the fairgrounds. Hey, we could have a whole *family* of ghosts!" Guy grinned at his own words. "You, me, the kids, one happy ghost family."

Emery groaned. "Thanks for the image."

"I have to admit, I do want to date you," Guy said. "I've talked to my mom - she approves."

"I... um... Dad's very picky, he wants the right guy for his little girl," Emery said, blushing a little. "Besides, we barely know each other."

"We can get to know each other a little more," Guy said. "I know I'm hardly one to talk, given that I sought approval from my *mom*, but she'd still love me if I got married to someone she didn't like. She'd just be very disappointed. Dad too. The whole family, even. It's... is this normal for small towns?"

"Nah, Dad's just very protective of me, given that Mom died," Emery said. "It's nothing against you. He just wants to get it right. That's what he says about his harps, and that's what he feels about me." She had to admit, while it did feel a bit restrictive, the philosophy worked well with harps. Her Dad was just a bit overprotective, that was all.

She hoped. She really hoped. After all, her father had never, ever liked any of her suitors, even as he'd said over and over that there had to be another generation. Of course, there was the whole thing with her mother's family, and the false names and all that she wasn't sure she knew what to do with.

She had to wonder what name she had been born with, and what it really would have been like to grow up in Boston. Would it be as bad as her father had said, or was her mother and other relatives just people her Dad had disagreed with?

"Oh, I thought that it was just normal of something," Guy said, looking at the wallpaper. "If you fell in love, would your Dad's opinion truly stop you?"

"I... don't know," Emery admitted, studying her hands. If she was truly in love, would it?

But she couldn't leave her father to run the business on his own, really. Where would KentPet Harps be without her? Most people didn't know the satisfaction of handcrafting wood, stringing strings, making sure everything *worked*. The long hours that were so worth it with a satisfied customer, the knowledge that KentPet might not be very fast, but they were worth every penny. Their concert harps were very well-known among the professional crowd.

"What is it?" Guy asked, leaning forward. "Did I upset you?"

"Guy, we make some of the best harps in the business," she said. "We're known as a quality brand. If Dad lost me... he'd probably lose the business. I'm an extra set of hands, some extra profit, and I'm very good at what I do. And I don't think you want to go into harp crafting or want to live in Hayfork."

"Oh, I don't know," Guy said, taking her hand. "I wouldn't mind either. And if I turned out to be more clumsy than your father could tolerate in a son-in-law, then I can make sure KentPet has the best employees that it could possibly get."

"Dad really really wants someone who can be a part of the family business," Emery said. "I know this might be overly cautious, but... it's going to take a lot to impress my Dad."

"Then I'll just have to be the most impressive potential son-in-law your father has ever seen," Guy said, grinning and squeezing her hand. "Somehow, things will work out."

"Let's see what happens when you meet Dad," she said, removing her hand from his. "After all, you need to impress him as well as me."

"Ouch," Guy said, wincing dramatically, and then grinning. "So, you'd like somebody who didn't get lost in a wet paper bag?"

"If we don't intend to get lost in the fairgrounds with our two point five children, no," Emery teased. "Or lost trying to find the delivery vehicle at the end of our driveway."

"Ouch, hit home there," Guy said, clutching his chest in an exaggerated manner. "I do get lost at the end of driveways. And streets. And in my own house."

Emery laughed as Irene returned with their soups. "The kids would be so doomed."

"So, this gentleman is?" Irene asked, grinning.

"Guy Sumners," Guy said, introducing himself. "Out of Flagstaff. Arizona, that is."

"Financial market," Emery added. "And one of KentPet's clients. And a semi-pro musician - harpist, of course."

"Financial?" Irene looked at Guy appraisingly. "Well then, I think you should get him to invest in Hayfork." She winked and lowered her voice. "Marrying him would probably work too."

"With my dad? You know how he feels." Emery sighed.

"Oh, yeah," Irene said. "Still, you never know!" She winked once again. Returning to normal vocal levels, she added, "Rest of your order will be ready soon. Enjoy!"

"Invest in Hayfork?" Guy asked after Irene left. "At least she doesn't have any problem with us getting together."

Emery blushed. "A rich guy? Especially if you could bring business to Hayfork? Of course not." She looked out the window. "I don't know if you've noticed, but Hayfork's dying. When the lumber mills were squeezed out of business, the place started dying out. Now we have drug growers in the hills, and a lot of deteriorating houses. The people of Hayfork have been looking for an economic revival for *years*."

"I... hadn't realized," Guy said, looking in the direction of the kitchen. "This poor town...."

"A lot of us are wood-products folks, like KentPet," Emery said, looking in the same direction. "We don't have too many young families, you notice, because people grow up and they get out of here. We're a dying town, Guy. We get some tourism because of where we are, and there's the county fair, and we get some business from rentals of the fairgrounds, but...."

Guy covered her hand with his. "I don't know about the company I work for, but I'm sure that my family knows someone who would love to invest in this little town, Emery."

Emery nodded. "That would be a great help. My town desperately needs *something* to revive it. It's a nice place to live." Though with all the junkies taking over houses, she didn't know how much longer it would stay that way.

"I bet," Guy said. "I'm serious about the town revival, by the way. There's another cousin of mine who lives for things like this; hand her something to do and you'll never get rid of her. Hayfork would be perfect for her interests."

"Just as long as she realizes that it's a small town with small-town folk," Emery cautioned. "We have no desire to be Sacramento or even Redding. I like knowing a lot of people around here."

"Don't worry, my cousin knows small towns," Guy reassured her. "She wouldn't make it into something you'd hate."

"Thank goodness," Emery said. "You're looking at one of two cafes, a bakery, and that's about it. Three hotels. A mechanic's, a doctor and a dentist. If you need to have your eyes checked, you have to go to Redding. And I like it that way." She smiled. "I'd be very lost in Sedona, much less Flagstaff."

"We can get married and buy a GPS manufacturer and live happily ever after," Guy said. "As soon as I'm not sure your father won't kill me."

Emery laughed. "We'd *need* a lifetime supply of GPSes," she said. "But yes, I'd like Dad to approve of you first."

"I'd like to meet him, then," Guy said. He grinned. "I can charm *anybody*."

"I hope so," Emery said. "But the people of this town will love you forever if you can get an economic revival going."

"Maybe I should start on that first," Guy said. "One sec." He fished out his cellphone. "Shina? Guy here. You said you were looking for your latest project? Would you be interested in Hayfork, California? Yeah, where I went for the harp. Oh, you heard about her too. Is there anybody mom hasn't told? Well, you get to meet her, kind of. I want her to tell you about Hayfork. And Shina? Nosefrax."

"Nosefrax?" Emery asked as Guy handed the phone to her.

"Long story," Guy said, grimacing. "Just tell her about Hayfork."

Emery put the phone to her ear. "Hi, this is Emery Peters," she said.

"Shina Aspin," the other girl replied, her voice warm and welcoming, though businesslike. "I've heard a lot about you. Now, tell me about Hayfork."

"Well, we're a town of about 2600 people," Emery said. "About an hour and a half west of Redding, California, which in itself is about two and a half hours up from Sacramento." She thought about what to talk about next. "We're a former lumber town, located in Trinity National Forest, but the logging was stopped, so the town's been declining ever since. We have an elementary, middle, and high school here, though we don't have too many kids. A few cafes, motels, and a lot of people who like living in the middle of nowhere for various reasons, including people who just don't like the law." She could do without a little bit of it herself, but generally speaking, she tried to be a law-abiding citizen. "A little tourist stuff, some camping grounds, that's about it. Our main industry is wood products."

"Like KentPet harps," Shina noted. "What would you like it to be?"

"Well, we could use a company or two up here," Emery said. "Maybe somebody's call center, or something else in the service industry. Someplace steady for people to work. Some folks would like to see something in the computer industry move up here, others would love a couple more small businesses come in. Heck, if people want to move here and commute other places, we don't mind as long as they do something for our economy."

"Call center, computer place, small businesses. Got it. I'll want to come to town, take a look at it, but I'll start putting together a list. Anything else?"

"Hm." Irene was coming with their food. Emery watched her put it down. "Hey, Irene."

"Yeah?" Irene asked. "Need something else?"

"This is one of Guy's cousins, she knows people who know people," Emery said. "Talk to her and tell her what kinds of businesses you think should come into Hayfork. Shina, I'm going to hand you over to Irene."

"Hello there, Shina," Irene said, after taking the phone from Emery. "I'm Irene McAdell. Emery and I grew up together. What do we want, well, Bob Pierson could probably give you a better answer - yes, I can get you his phone number, he's with our Chamber of Commerce - oh, yes, they have a website too - but I'd love another restaurant or two. We're good... we're usually quite busy... but I know people who would kill for chinese takeout. We want a stable workforce, call center or something that wouldn't require a ton of skill or knowledge. Did Emery tell you that we were once a lumber town? Good. Let me get you Bob's phone number, he can hook you up with the right people." Irene dug her own cellphone out. "Ready? Here's the number." Reading the number out loud, she added, "And if you want to talk to me, here's my number." Irene read out the number for her own personal cellphone. "Thanks. I'll give you back to Emery now."

Emery took the cellphone back. "Well," Shina said, "I'm hashing out some ideas. I'll want to see the place, first, but, well... you're family. Almost, I mean. Put me on with Guy."

"Hi, Shina," Guy said, once Emery had given him the cellphone. "Yes, I will take pictures of Hayfork. Yes, I do know that I can't navigate. Yes, I know I'm hard on GPSes. But I will take pictures. Okay." His tone held amusement. "And send you pictures. I think you'll love Hayfork, though. It's a good place that just needs a small helping hand. Thank you for doing your best." He finally closed the connection.

"That's very kind of you," Irene said. "It'll good to have fresh faces in Hayfork." She grinned. "I've got to get back to work, but if you've got any more questions, please ask me - though you probably would prefer to talk to Emery." She winked and headed off.

"Shina will do good things for this town," Guy said. "The best she can. Once she sees this town, she'll do everything in her power to get it back on its feet."

Emery nodded, and started on her sandwich. It was, as usual, delicious. "That would be a good thing. I'd hate to see Hayfork die out. There are a lot of good folk who live here."

Guy reached out and put his hand on hers. "I know. Got any funny stories you can tell me? So I can tell Shina."

"Hm." She thought about this. "Well, there's how one Halloween, a bunch of guys got drunk and thought that bedsheets were a really good thing. We still have photos of that - including the one in the floral bedsheet."

Guy laughed. "Kind of blackmail?"

"They aren't living it down anytime soon, that's for sure," Emery said. "Let's see. There was a hilarious typo in the church bulletin once that had the pastor absolutely *mortified* - that was about five years ago, and people still laugh about that."

"Long memories," Guy noted. "Any other stories?"

"Hm. Well, Alicia Brown tells this story about her jokester husband, a tax document, and having to explain to the government about what said husband had done. Fortunately, the government agent in Sacramento was very amused and fixed it, and Alicia saw the humor - eventually."

"Ah, government bureaucrats," Guy said. "Don't you just love them?" He rolled his eyes dramatically, and she grinned.

"Some government we like, some government we don't," Emery said. "But I suspect that's true every place. Even in Sacramento, I hear they don't always like the government." She wiped her hands with a paper napkin and then toyed with her necklace. "But at least that one was positive."

"I don't think anybody every completely loves the government or its employees," Guy said, finishing his own sandwich. "My impression is especially the employees." He looked up, and added, "That's a pretty necklace. Can I see it?"

She caught his curious glance. "Sure." She pulled out the necklace so that he could see it. "It's a family heirloom."

"It's very pretty. I think it's an antique, too." His voice was lowered in awe. "Hey, can I get a picture of it? And of you?" He got out his cellphone. "I've got another cousin in the antiques business. I'm sure she could tell you lots about the necklace you don't know."

Emery smiled. "Sure. I don't know much about it, except it belongs to my father's family." She let him snap a picture of herself and the necklace. "Does your cellphone take decent pictures?"

"Yeah, my gadget-geek sister doesn't let up until I get the latest fancy thing," Guy said, his face in a mock-grimace. "This thing could probably dance if I hit the right set of buttons - I'm sure there are cellphones in Japan that can dance. They certainly do everything else under the sun. Hell, you can watch *TV* on the latest Japanese cellphones, I hear."

"You can?" Emery asked, eyebrows raised. "Are they really that fancy?"

"You'd have to ask my sister - she's the one who goes to Akihabara whenever she can, once a year," Guy replied. "The latest tech and everything. It's just... amazing. She's brought back pictures and video. Speaks fluent Japanese, too, works as a translator because that's what she loves to do."

"I've never been outside California to my memory," Emery confessed. "Okay, I take that back. I wasn't born here, and I did go to Ashland up in Oregon for a high school field trip - Shakespeare plays. I remember they did 'The School For Scandal' and 'King Lear' that year, but that's about it. And that's only because Dad still has the permission slip."

"You ever acted yourself?" Guy asked. "That's what I did, when I was younger. Hell, one could say Finance is a a lot of math and then also a lot of acting."

"I think all Customer Service requires it," Emery said, grinning at the image of a bunch of people standing on their desks, doing monologues. "It's called the fine art of diplomacy."

"Ah, you know it too," Guy said, grinning and putting his cellphone away. "You did school plays when you were younger?"

"Of course," Emery said. "I played in 'The Sound of Music' as one of the Von Trapp kids. One of the youngest was played by a short girl with a ton of bust. I hear she had to have surgery later about it, but for that, we... had to reduce it other ways."

"I was glad I missed that," Guy said. "Well, I would have liked the girl. She sounds... busty...."

Emery rolled her eyes. "She's married, not so busty anymore, and moved to San Bernardino some years back. And has three kids."

"Aw," Guy took a sip of his coffee. "Too bad. But I bet she wasn't as nice as you or had such great harps."

"Well, her Dad was in the lumber industry, so...." Emery shrugged. "We lost a lot of people that way."

Guy's expression became serious. "We'll be able to save your town, Emery. I promise. Shina is brilliant when it comes to that kind of thing. She won't precisely be doing things so fast that your head will spin, but we will make this work."

"Thanks," Emery said. "I really appreciate it."

Finally, they ran out of things to say, and so parted at the cafe. "I would escort you home," Guy said, "But I suspect I'd get really, really lost."

Emery laughed once more. "That's okay. Now, 3 is very easy to follow. Don't get lost, okay?"

"I promise," he said. "I won't get lost on the way back to Redding." He kissed her hand. "Until I can come back with something the *right size* and I promise, I will consult with someone else to make sure that I am renting something of the correct *size* this time."

"You promise?" she joked.

"Even if I have to have someone go and measure with a fine-toothed comb," he promised. "I will get here and take the harp back with me."

That caused her to laugh even harder. "Take care," she said.

"I will," he promised. He then drove off, and Emery hoped he wouldn't make the local news by needing to be rescued. Or turned out really to be a dead body in the fairgrounds, having died of starvation.

But he turned out to be neither.

Her father returned from his trip to Sacramento that evening. "So," he said, "Did the young man visit again?" He busied himself with things, but she could tell he was worried about what had happened.

"We went to lunch, chatted, Irene took a shine to him, and his cousin has an interest in helping Hayfork revive," Emery said, in a rush.

"And what did you have for lunch? Coffee, tomato soup, and a grilled cheese sandwich?" her father asked. For the moment, he seemed amused.

"Well, of course," Emery answered. "In fact, he had it too."

"Hmmmfh. Was he being polite or....?" Her father abruptly studied her. "In some ways, your mother did that too. Let me order for her. Always liked to eat the same things I did."

"Well, it could be because he was unfamiliar with the menu," Emery pointed out. "I'm not going to let the same thing happen here as did with you and Mom. I promise."

"I'm more afraid of your mother's family finding you and taking you away," her father said. "This young man... it's an uncomfortable parallel, Emery. And my contacts haven't gotten back to me yet. I don't want your heart broken... or to turn out that you're cousins or something like that. You mom's family had their tentacles in everything."

"Dad...." Emery walked over to him. "I'm sure he and I aren't cousins. I'm sure everything's okay."

"I want to be careful, little one. Because if he is from your mother's family... they pull a lot of dirty tricks." He paused. "Do you still have your necklace on?"

Emery nodded and pulled it out from when she'd tucked it back in. "Yes. He was curious about it - you know how I tend to tug on it sometimes when I'm occupied - thinks it's an antique. But I promised never to take it off, and I won't."

"Good," her father said. "It's very important for your survival, Emery."

"If I take it off, my head will roll off or something?" Emery asked. "Like that old story with the woman and the neck ribbon?"

Her father barked in laughter. "No, but I have very good reason for asking this, Emery. Don't take it off. Don't let *him* take it off, don't let anybody take it off."

Emery nodded. "I won't, father," she promised. It was the best that she could do.

"Good," he said. "I wouldn't be asking this if it weren't important. It may save your life."

Not having anything to say to this, she went back to her harps. After all, complicated though they were, they weren't as complex as human beings.

Her father remained home for the next few days, and Emery continued to work on harps, with stops for breaks, sleep, the occasional trip out of town to Redding, and of course Church. Her father was adamant; they were always to go to church. She couldn't remember a time when she didn't go to church, really.

"So, has that guy of your dreams shown up?" Irene teased her one day when she went to have lunch at Irene's Delights. "Or has your Knight in Shining Armor abandoned you?"

Emery snorted. "I'm sure he got lost a few times between here and Flagstaff. That guy has the worst sense of direction I've ever seen."

"Yes," Irene said. "When you two get married, we'll be sure to tease him about it." She sipped a milkshake. "There's always something we can tease the new person about."

"That's assuming he passes the 'Dad test', remember?" Emery reminded her. "And Dad's not big on big rich families because of my mom's family."

Sipping more at her milkshake, Irene said, "Your father - hate to say it - isn't going to get grandkids if he doesn't stop being so paranoid about your dates. I mean, you're in your mid-thirties! You're not going to be able to give him grandkids if he doesn't start accepting something like that."

Emery sipped at her own milkshake. "He might never be able to do that."

"You're doomed, doomed I say," Irene pronounced. "Something's got to give, Emery. Either your Guy or your father."

"I know," Emery said. "But I don't know what. I like Guy, but I don't know him very well. And I am getting exasperated at Dad. It's like I'm stuck between two worlds."

"Aw, poor girl," Irene said. "Things'll get better, Emery, you'll see."

"Hope so." Emery took another sip of the shake and worked on her sandwich. "I don't know what'll happen if they don't."

She pondered that over several days more, and was working on a small harp when her father came in. "The gentleman with the inability to measure is coming over tomorrow to *finally* pick up his harp."

"Oh, Guy Sumners?" Emery brightened at that. "So, you spoke to him?"

"Yes, and while he seems okay for the moment... I'd like you to be far away when he comes. So, why don't you spend some time at Irene's place? Take all the time you want."

"Dad," she said in fond exasperation. "I'm old enough to take care of clients."

"Still," her father said, "I'd feel much safer if you weren't nearby when he comes. Okay, Emery?"

Emery made a face at that, but nodded. "I'll order an extra-big lunch."

"That's my girl," her father said, brightening. "This is just to keep you safe, Emery. Not to keep you from falling in love."

She was not going to tell him that he was all ready too late.

So the next day dawned, and she made harps until her father came into the room. "He's on his way."

"You gave him directions, Dad? Otherwise, he'll get lost," Emery said, getting on her jacket.

"He did say something about bringing a GPS this time," her father said, not getting the joke.

"That's because as well as needing a better measuring tape, he gets lost really, really really easily," Emery said. "Be prepared for a call anyway. The time he came to take me to lunch, he got lost in the fairground parking lot."

Her father rolled his eyes. "Great. I'll be expecting his call, just in case. Sometimes you just can't tell with those GPSes."

"You can't, but don't tell him that," Emery told him, before heading out the door. "Call Irene's if you need to get in touch."

"No, you take the emergency cell," her Dad said. "I don't want you to be without it, not now."

"Right, Dad," Emery said. "Don't worry, I won't need it."

"Hope you don't, but... have fun, Emery. I'll see you later on."

So Emery went to Irene's. As Irene came to take her order, she said, "Guy's up today, but Dad wants to make sure he takes off with the harp this time."

"I'm sure Guy would like to go home with his harp too," Irene said. "Seeing you might be a bit secondary."

"Well, unless he comes up with some way to get in touch, seeing me is going to be kind of not happening," Emery pointed out.

"If he loves you, he'll find some way to see you," Irene assured her. "Let me get started on the food, and hopefully your Prince Charming will find you." She paused. "Assuming he doesn't get lost."

"Always a problem with him," Emery joked weakly. She hoped that Guy would find his way to to their shop and pick up the harp. Well, at least her father was warned.

Knowing her father didn't want her anywhere near the place, she ate more at Irene's than she usually did. She doubted that Irene was complaining, though she certainly didn't need the business. Irene's tended to be crowded certain times of the day.

To her surprise, as she was finishing off some dessert, Guy and an unfamiliar woman stepped in. She wondered who the woman was before Guy waved at her and walked forward, the woman with him. She wasn't anything much to look at, but she seemed to be in good shape. "I guessed we'd find her here," Guy said. "Hey, Emery, I didn't get lost in Hayfork!"

"That's because I was making sure he didn't break the GPS," the woman muttered. "Shina McPherson, at your service."

The name sounded familiar, and Emery had to think for a moment about who it belonged to, before it clicked. "You're Guy's cousin Shina!"

"One and the same. I figured if he was coming up, I might as well come up too." Her eyes sparkled. "We're practically cousins anyway."

"Shina," Guy hissed. "Don't scare the poor girl, she hasn't seen all my charms yet."

Shina rolled her eyes. "You mean like your total-"

"She's seen me at my worst," Guy said. "Driving around totally lost. It can't get much worse."

His cousin laughed. "Right. Here, let's sit down before everybody here wonders if we're insane."

"We're not insane, we're just big city folk," Guy said as he took a seat. "See what I suffer with for Hayfork's sake?"

"Oh, don't listen to him," Shina said. "Cousin here just likes to moan and gripe a bit."

"I can see that," Emery said. She grinned. "So, you decided to have lunch before heading back?"

"Well," Guy said, scratching his head, "I figured that you might be here, so I wanted to see you. Shina came up because she wanted to get a good look at the town."

"Wanted to talk to people and see what this place was like," Shina said. "I'm not sure what I'm going to be looking for, yet, but I've booked myself into a local motel and I'll be spending the next day or three checking your town out." She sighed. "You have a slight problem with squatters in the town, don't you? Druggies?"

"Yes, just slightly," Emery agreed. "I'm afraid that our remoteness makes it attractive for them to live here." It wasn't something that the people of the town liked to admit, but sometimes the reason people did come to live in Hayfork was to avoid government scrutiny over their drugs. Of course, she was sure that some of the drug growers were relatively honest, upright people, too.

Shina scowled. "That's not a good reason to stay in such a beautiful town. Because it *should* be a beautiful town." She looked over at Guy. "I'm glad you found this place, and Emery."

"I'm glad I did, too," Guy said. "Really glad." He looked over at Emery as Shina shuffled some papers. "I'm especially glad I met Emery."

Shina put the papers away. "I'm definitely getting some good ideas," she said. "It seems like such a nice place to live. Heck, I'd love some property out this way." She smiled at Guy, and then Emery. "But first, to make this community stop dying."

"Do you think you can?" Emery asked. It sometimes seemed impossible. Ever since the mills closed, taking their jobs with them, the people of her town had despaired of ever getting their town back.

"It's your town," Shina said, patting Emery's hand. "Of *course* I'll get it to stop dying."

"I knew your Prince Charming would find you," Irene said, coming up to the table. "What're you guys wanting to order today?"

Guy grinned. "A bowl of tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a cup of coffee."

"Ditto," Shina added.

"This is Shina McPherson, you talked to her the other day," Emery said, indicating the woman.

Irene broke out in a great big smile. "That's great! So, Shina, are you hanging about today?"

"I'm actually going back to Redding, where my car is, and then I'm coming back here tomorrow," Shina told her, smiling up at her. "I want to see all of this town, and I want to talk to people, and then I'll see what I can do."

"Hey, we're not complaining," Irene said. "And two tomato soups, two grilled cheese sandwiches, and two coffees. You're training these two well, Emery."

Emery laughed as she blushed. "Well, of course." She couldn't think of anything else to say. "Soon, I'll train them to eat something other than what I order, because your food is just so awesome."

"That's true," Irene said. "Train 'em well, Emery." She winked and went back to the kitchen.

"I *like* this town," Shina said, watching Irene move around. "And I haven't been here that long. You really grew up here?"

"Been here ever since I remember," Emery told her. "I wasn't *born* here, but I might as well have been."

"So, you were born where?" Shina asked, paying more attention to her than her surroundings.

"Dad says Boston," Emery said. "He didn't like Mom's family, and so...."

The cousins nodded. "It's too bad," Shina said sadly. "When people don't get along."

"Which reminds me," Guy said, "I want Shina to see your necklace."

"My necklace?" Emery asked, mystified. "Why?"

"I have an interest in odd things," Shina remarked, leaning forward. "I'd love to see it."

"Well, it's nothing special," Emery said, as she fished it out. "It's a heirloom, but more of sentimental value than anything else."

Shina peered at it. "I wouldn't say it's just of sentimental value. There's quite a bit of talking going on in our family about that necklace of yours. A lot of debate. We've got a bunch of antique buffs in our family."

"Well, it is quite old," Emery said, remembering what her father had told her about it. "But antique doesn't mean valuable."

"Still," Shina said, "There are some people in our family who think it dates back to the 17th century. It's the right style."

"It's a very nice heirloom," Guy said. "Whoever made it was really powerful."

"But it's not silver, or gold," Emery objected. "It's not even that valuable."

"To the untrained eye, maybe," Shina said, leaning back and folding her hands. "It's not what it seems to be, however."

"What is it? Made of moon metal, or something like that?" For all she knew, it could have been. But it had always seemed like normal iron to her, stuff that would be no more special than any other necklace. She ran her fingers over it, noting the tightness in the links, of how hard it must have been to make the thing manually, without the benefit of modern machinery. Everything about the necklace was beautiful, and it seemed both very old and very new, as if it hadn't been made that long ago and yet it had been made centuries ago. But if it wasn't that old, it was an extremely good fake. She rubbed her finger against one of the roses that decorated the necklace.

"Not quite," Shina said, "But I think it's made of an extremely rare kind of iron."

"Extremely... rare kind of iron?" Emery asked. "I didn't know there *were* rare kinds of iron." She'd never heard of different kinds of iron.

"It's not *really* iron," Guy said. "But it is related. So it's not really a rare iron, just something that looks a heck o a whole lot like iron and behaves like iron." He leaned back in his chair. "Boy, I'm hungry."

"If you're still hungry after we get done," Shina said to her cousin, "We'll make sure there's food for the drive back."

"Civic improvement," Guy said, but didn't elaborate. Shina laughed.

"I'm looking forward to doing a whole lot of that shortly," she said, looking at Guy, who obviously got the joke. Emery wished they'd let her in on it.

"Sorry," Shina said. "It's a long story, I'll explain later. Or Guy will." She smiled sympathetically. "Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to grow up with both parents? Or your mother rather than your father?"

"Well, I might have grown up with my mom's family," Emery allowed, "But somehow my father got custody. Dad doesn't have a good impression of them, I'm afraid."

"I'm sure they're not as bad as your Dad thinks they are," Shina said. "If someone has a bad view of other people... then they're not about to say anything positive about them." She blinked. "That came out not as well as I hoped."

"What my cousin is trying to say," Guy said, "Is that you should probably meet your family instead of just trusting in your father's words, before condemning them."

Emery blinked. "I hope I haven't given the impression that I hate my mother's family just because my Dad says so," she said slowly. "I don't know anything about them."

"I wasn't sure," Guy said. "Because it sounds like your Dad is... well...."

"Hurt," Shina said softly. "Very, very hurt."

"Anyway," Guy said shuffling, "It's probably a very valuable necklace."

"Without having an appraiser," Shina said, "And a professional at that, we can't be sure, but...."

"What Shina is trying to say," Guy said, "Is that she thinks that it's very valuable." He leaned forward. "Any chance you're interested in selling it?"

"It belongs to the family," Emery said, wondering why they were pressing her on the issue. "And my father said that I should never take it off."

"Gee, wonder why," Guy muttered.

"We're from the area that it came from, long ago," Shina explained. "Finding a necklace like that... it means a lot to our family. Some of our family recognized the design."

"Let's just... this is harder than I thought it would be," Guy said, with some frustration showing in his voice. "Look. There's a reason why your father is doing this, and it's very hard to explain why it's a good idea for you to take off the necklace."

"And that would be?" Emery asked, becoming increasingly confused. She was rescued by Irene returning, and also the buzzing of the emergency cellphone in her purse. Irene served up three tomato soups, winking again before making her disappearance. As for the cellphone, she was surprised to see the house's phone number come up. "Hello?"

"Emery," her father said, "That *gentleman* with the harp is gone. I'd like you to come back home now." The tone used on "gentleman" indicated her father thought him anything but.

"Yes, I know that," Emery said. "He's sitting across the table from me at Irene's. Having tomato soup." Well, he hadn't started on it quite yet, she noticed, because he was too busy watching her. The same was going on with Shina, the both of them ignoring their soup to pay attention to her and the conversation at hand.

Her father groaned. "Shit." There was silence for a few minutes. "I have a bad feeling about him, Emery."

Emery sighed. This was not a conversation she really wanted to be having with her Dad at the moment. Especially with Guy and his cousin right there. "He and his cousin say that the necklace is very old and they want to buy it from us," she added.

"Damn, damn, damn," her father said, swearing. "Under no circumstances, I repeat, no circumstances, do you sell that necklace or take it off. This is for your own protection, Emery. Do you hear?"

"Yes, Dad," she said, confused. "What in the heck is going on?"

"Well," her father said, "The monsters have come to town." Another silence, and then, "Come back home, Emery. There's a lot we need to talk about." He paused. "But finish up whatever you're eating. I don't want you to make them suspicious."

"What?" Emery repeated, still confused.

"I'll tell you when you get home, Emery," her father said. "Okay?" He sounded tired.

"Okay, Dad," she said. "I'll be home in a bit." She hoped her father would explain what exactly in the hell was going on, what everything meant, and why keeping the necklace on was so damn important.

She hung up the phone to find the two still watching her intently.

"Your father doesn't like me very much, does he?" Guy asked.

"I would say that's a no," Emery replied honestly. She was sure she'd discussed the whole thing with KentPet Harps and the business collapsing with him before. She was sure of it.

"Jatto," Guy said, and Emery had to wonder if that was some kind of curse word in his family. "I knew it." He ran a hand through his hair. "Some damn hu-people...."

"It's okay," Shina said. "It's almost over. The ordeal is almost over." She put her hand on her cousin's shoulder. "Go on," she said, looking at Emery. "Finish your soup. Go home. But think for yourself. Investigate. I think you'll find that you've been lied to all of your life." She paused. "Do you want us to pay for the extra soup?"

"I'm sure it's on the house," Emery said. "Irene just wanted to keep me here a bit longer. She likes Guy."

"Well," Shina said, brightening a little, "At least the townsfolk have good taste." She grinned. "I like this place."

"Once we do some cleanup," Guy said, "It'll be an even *nicer* place."

"I'll clean up," Shina promised. "You can just take care of... other things." She smiled at Emery. "Eat your soup. It's very good."

"That's a good idea," Emery said. "And I'll take care of my bill, but thank you."

"Oh, and when you do talk to your Dad," Guy said, "Ask him about Lathey Lusk." His voice was rough; she wondered who Lathey had been.

She finished her soup, and paid for her part of the meal. To her surprise, the soup wasn't included. "I think, with all the time you spend in here, I can give you one complimentary soup," Irene said. "So, any luck luring businesses to Hayfork?"

"Shina - Shina McPherson, that is - is very enthusiastic," Emery said. "I think she'll honestly do the best she can."

"Good," Irene said in approval. "Now, does your Dad approve of Guy?"

Emery sighed. "What do you think?"

"I take it that's a no." Irene frowned. "Remind him that there'll be no KentPet if he doesn't accept some guy, someday."

"I know, I know," Emery said. "Make sure that Guy doesn't forget his GPS, okay?"

"Gotcha," Irene said, winking. "Don't want him to start haunting the fairgrounds."

Emery grinned at that and made her way back to the company truck. Climbing in, she drove home.

"So, what's going on?" she asked, once she stepped into the house proper. "What's going on?"

"Here, have some coffee," her father said. He himself seemed to be on the mint tea his doctor had recommended.

"While you drink the mint tea?" Emery asked.

"Just because the doctor thinks *I* should be drinking mint tea doesn't mean that you have to," her father said, grimacing. "I don't recommend it, incidentally. I'd have the coffee if I could."

"Hopefully Dr. Wilson will come to his senses and soon," Emery said. "But you didn't call me home to tell me that you still can't drink coffee." She wasn't sure what he wanted to talk to her about.

"No," her father said, sipping at his tea. "I... guess I should tell you the truth."

"Truth?" Emery echoed, confused. "What truth?"

"About who you are," her father said, "Before you're told by somebody else."

"Huh?" Emery asked. "Dad, are you all right?"

He sipped at his tea once more. "Get yourself settled, Emery," he said. "It's a long story, and not a pretty one."

Emery sat down, questioningly, drinking her coffee.

"I guess I should start this 'Once upon a time'," her father said, "Because in some ways it feels like a fairy tale."

Sipping at her coffee, Emery said, "And some ways it doesn't, it sounds like." Because it didn't.

"No," her father agreed. "Once upon the time, there was a race of vampires, and a group of vampire hunters. One of the hunters was also an aspiring harpist, and met another harpist, and they fell in love. And more." He took a deep breath. "And then, months later, the harpist - and hunter - found out that the other harpist was a vampire. And that she'd been pregnant with his child when they'd parted. And that he was a father." Taking a sip of his tea, he continued, "And knowing what he did, he killed his former lover and took his baby daughter home so that she wouldn't be turned into a vampire too. And it wasn't all bad. She grew up into a magnificent young woman with good hands and a good heart. And her father hid her so her mother's family wouldn't find her and make her into a monster. And he hoped, desperately, that that would be The End." He looked into his tea. "Except it wasn't."

"Dad?" Emery stared at her father. "What are you saying?" Vampires? Vampire hunters? It didn't make any sense.

"There's a bunch of supernatural creatures our there, call themselves the Enshanti," her father said, staring at the wall. "Vampires were never real, but the Enshanti are. They steal human life essence - not souls, but the thing that keeps body and soul together. Your mother was one of them. I stole you away to keep you from being another."

"So, I'm an Enshanti?" Emery asked, trying to make sense of that. She was an energy vampire?

No, she couldn't be. Somebody would have noticed the deaths, she would have remembered killing people.

But what if she was unknowingly doing it?

She shivered.

"Half-Enshanti," her father corrected. "Which isn't as uncommon as you think. The Enshanti love playing with their food - which includes sleeping with it."

"Which is what Mom did," Emery guessed. How else could she have happened?

"Exactly," her father said. He sipped more at his tea and looked longingly at her coffee. "Oh, for some reason your mother didn't kill me - wasn't hungry, I guess. But when I found out that I'd fathered a child on an Enshanti... the only thing I could think to do was get my baby girl out of there, on the advice of Reverend Perkins. He told me what would happen to you if I didn't save you."

"And what would have happened?" Emery asked. Then she remembered what her father had said. She'd have been raised as Enshanti, it sounded like.

"Well," her father said after a moment, "You would have been Enshanti."

"You mean I would have been raised as one," Emery said. It made sense. "I'm not killing anybody here without knowing it, am I, Dad?"

Her father laughed. "No, Emery. I saved you from all that."

"It just means that I'm not entirely human, then?" Emery asked hopefully. She could live with that.

"You're not entirely human," her father confirmed. "You also have the potential to be a powerful Enshanti. I didn't want your mom's family to get their hands on you, nor did I want your mom raising you to be a monster. So I took you away, changed your identity, and made you wear that necklace." He took a deep breath. "I didn't want you to be a monster, figuratively or literally. I couldn't let that happen to my own daughter."

"Literally?" Emery said, catching the last bit. "Do the Enshanti have two forms or something?"

Her father shook his head. "Just a human form or a bestial one, depending on whether they pass certain tests. The bestial ones seem to be even more infertile than the human-looking ones, thank goodness, though they can both reproduce with humans." He took a deep breath. "The hybrids come out human either way. It's weird."

"But my mom was human-form, right?" As she asked the question, she realized her mother had to be, if her father had mistaken her for human.

Her father laughed. It was bitter, but it was a laugh. "Yes, your mother was definitely not bestial. If she was, then I might never have known about you. You'd have been just another Enshanti."

Emery nodded. "But instead you found me and brought me here," she said, sipping at her coffee.

"Your Enshanti relatives have no doubt been looking for you for years," her father said, staring at his tea, and then over at her. "I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Sumners is one of them, possibly related to you."

"He did say to mention a name," Emery admitted. "Something like Laney, or something like that. Lathey, I think it was." That sounded kind of close to what Guy had said, didn't it? She was pretty sure that's the name that Guy had mentioned.

"Lathey," her father said. He fell silent, and the silence stretched on for a few minutes, Emery not daring to ask him what he meant. "Your mother named you Lathey."

Lathey? What kind of name was Lathey? Other than hers, apparently. It sounded rather weird, as if someone was trying to say 'Lacey' but got lost somewhere along the way. "What kind of name is that?" she asked out loud.

"An Enshanti one," her father said. "I have no clue what she was thinking; he name was very mundane. Maybe she wanted yours to be special." He stared into space. "I know a bit about what Enshanti culture is like, but not much. I'm sure the name she gave you was a special name. Maybe you would have gone by a more mundane human name when you were older. There's so much I don't know about them...."

"I... you tried to save me, Dad," Emery said. "I don't know from what, but you tried to save me." Being an energy vampire didn't sound like too much fun, actually, though she was sure it had its advantages. Of course, telling that to a former vampire hunter, even if it was her father, didn't sound like the smartest thing to do. "But how did you end up hunting them in the first place?"

"That," her father said, "Is a long, complicated story." He grinned at that, much to her confusion.

"Dad?" Emery asked. "What is it?"

"It oddly enough, like your story, started with a girl." He leaned back. "A girl that I knew in high school. You see, I grew up in a big city, not like Hayfork. She wasn't exactly the most attractive or nerdiest girl in the world, but I did like her. And so did my best friend."

"And was she an Enshanti?" Emery asked. It sounded like they liked large cities, like Boston and Flagstaff.

"No," her father said. "She wasn't Enshanti at all." He lost his smile as he was lost in the memories. "She was a victim of them. Her name was Susan. And I... was in love with her." He leaned back. "My family went to church, but we did it because that's what *everybody* did when I was growing up. In our family, we paid lip service to the Methodists. Because you weren't normal in our neighborhood unless you went to church."

Emery nodded.

"Now, it's not like faith or anything like that stopped the Enshanti; I'm told some of them are quite religious, and some of them are even Christians, or whatever the faith of their particular land is. So, it's not like you can stop them with a cross or anything. Most of what hunters use are tricks and old power items, or forged new ones. Sometimes conventional weaponry can help, too, but we're a long way from being able to blow one away. But they're still killed by some very simple things - despite their toughness, it's not impossible to kill them with the right equipment."

"Dad?" Emery asked. "I know that it wasn't a good thing to leave me with Mom, but did you have to kill her?" It had occurred to her that her mother might have been a good person, in her own way. A monster, for sure, but one with feelings. One that might not have deserved to be killed, at least not by her father.

"Yes, I had to kill your mother," her father said, looking down. "It was something quite difficult for me, but I did it. It wasn't like I had much of a choice in the matter. Your mother wouldn't have let me live if I had taken away her baby, even if she'd let me live to conceive you." He sighed. "Just because I loved her doesn't mean that you didn't deserve a chance to live as a human."

Emery nodded. "She would have killed you?" "Nearly did, had I not...."

Her father sighed. "There were four of us that night that penetrated the grounds and the manor. One is dead. The other three of us are alive. I came in, hoping that I could convince your mother to give you up, but she was adamant. You were Enshanti, and you would stay Enshanti. This was your fate; there was nothing I could do about it." He took a breath. "I didn't want to lose you, and I didn't want to lose her, but I didn't really have a choice in the matter, Emery. She really was a good woman... a good woman but a monster too, who killed people. I loved her and yet... she had to die so that you could live."

He took another breath. "I knew that she'd find some way to keep track of you, some mystical thing, so when we got you out of there, I took you to a priest. Well, sort of a priest. What our movement called a priest. That's Perkins. He was the one who undid the magic your mother placed on you to keep track of you. I think she knew that I was coming. But I couldn't not go back without you. So I had to fight her, and she had to fight me. So, we fought. She died. That was the end of it, because Perkins was able to unwind the protections that had been put on you, and wind in our own."

Emery nodded. "And so you and I ended up here."

"Yes, here in little, safe Emeryville, where we could be a family, and you could have a simple life." Her father smiled a little at that. "Perkins' protection has done you and I well; we've been safe for so long, and if it hadn't been for one Enshanti with a desire to transport his own harp, you would have been so much safer." He took a breath. "This is why I've been so careful. You have as many spells as you could possibly tolerate on you, thanks to Perkins. The necklace is another spell, one that keeps you safe. Should you remove it... then... they'd probably find you."

"But they have," Emery pointed out. "They know where I am."

"Yeah," her father said. "The last thing I wanted to have happen, to have you with those bastards. You're a good girl, Emery, and I don't want you to turn into your Mom. Which is probably precisely what they do want you to do."

Emery nodded. "Because I'm Enshanti?"

"If there's one thing to be said for them," her father said, "They take care of their own and those they love. I think that's the only thing that saved me when I was with your mother, that she loved me somehow."

"And they want to love me," Emery said. "To bring me back." Somewhere, she'd always thought she'd have family from her Mom's side. She just wasn't expecting this whole thing, where she was the lost child of a family of energy vampires. Energy vampires that were apparently close. She thought of Guy and Shina, and how much they seemed to enjoy life. If they were Enshanti, then they were very close. Very very close. And Emery didn't doubt that they loved. Shina seemed to have a good heart, and Guy genuinely loved the arts. Which made him like her mother, it sounded like. "Mom liked the arts," she murmured.

"Your mother loved, absolutely loved the arts," her father said. "She was an amazing woman, Emery, it's just that when I caught her draining another woman to death in a park, that was the end of things. Well, until I learned that I had become a father, thanks to her." He looked down. "She tried to tell me that she only did it for my sake, and it was to keep me safe. Because I was hers, and only hers. And I... I knew that I'd fallen for an Enshanti." He took a deep breath. "I was absolutely furious to find that your mother was Enshanti. That she was a monster. And had I not been delayed in finding her, you would never have been born." He gave her a small smile. "I don't regret that, not at all."

"I like being a small-town girl," Emery said. "It's just... you don't expect this kind of thing to happen in Hayfork."

"You don't expect this to come up *anywhere*, her father corrected. "It's not something that you'd really want to have come up. It's just that I didn't want to be a slave to an Enshanti, like your mother wanted me to be. Plus, I hunted Enshanti; how could I live with one without being so much something that I hated?"

"Dad...."

"You were so perfect," her father said, smiling. "So wonderful. I fell in love with you the first time I ever saw you, though I was scared that you might be mystically booby-trapped. You were, in a way, but Perkins made it safe for you to be you. Sort of. You were born with such little power that I thought for sure that you would be undetectable from the Enshanti, in particular your relatives. That didn't quite happen as you grew up, though."

"What happened as I grew up?" Emery asked. What had made her father give her the necklace? What power did it have?

"You became more and more powerful," her father said. "I had Perkins keep an eye on you. Soon, you were almost too powerful. Too amazing. I couldn't let you be found as you grew in power. I didn't want to lose you to the Enshanti testing."

Emery nodded. "I don't regret it," she said. "But you came to Hayfork to be free?"

He smiled. "No, I came to Hayfork so that *you* could be free," her father said. "That *you* could be the person that you wanted to be, not stuck in Enshanti roles. And I've definitely never regretted moving here."

"So, how did you get into hunting?" Emery asked. "Because of the dead girl?"

"Because of the dead girl, and being in the wrong place at the right time," her father said. "Because I met those that would make a difference in my life and yours. I'm still in touch with many of them, actually. I didn't want to lose touch with such valuable people, those who could save both of us."

"It's hard to believe," Emery said, "That I'm half Enshanti. I didn't even know what Enshanti were, until you told me." She cradled her chin in her hands. "Do you think that I'll get a chance to absorb this whole thing, or am I going to be stuck with knowing what I am and trying to handle forty crises to boot?"

"That," her father said, "Is probably up to Mr Sumner and his cousin." He drank more of his tea. "But I can point out two choices to you, right here and now."

"What are those?" Emery asked, drinking more of her coffee to fit with her Dad drinking the tea.

"Well, you can live here, stay here, let your relatives come to you," her father said. "That might be the easiest for you, really. I don't doubt that your relatives would love to have you about here. They'd probably welcome you back with very open arms. I think, if they weren't killers, they'd be good people. And as much as I'd like to save you... there might come a point where I can't save you any more."

Emery blinked at that. "But you tried."

"I know," her father said. "But you're still half-Enshanti; you're still kind of a threat to the hunters, especially those who know how powerful you are. You're one of the most powerful Enshanti Perkins has ever monitored; he thinks that you would be a dangerous weapon in their hands. That's why I've had so much help trying to protect you; in some ways, Hayfork's seen a lot of rituals and spells to protect it from the Enshanti as well. I... I think that they did more than that. But the thing you have to keep in mind is that my fellow hunters would come after you if they had any idea that you were becoming Enshanti. And they are capable of killing you, make no doubt of it. They know your approximate power level, and they know what you can become, if your necklace was only off."

"The necklace?" Emery asked. "What does it do?"

"Hides you and your power, makes you weaker, or at least seemingly so," her father said. "I wanted to be able to contain you, and I knew I couldn't if I didn't restrict your power. So, there went on the necklace. Besides, this way, Perkins and the others don't consider you a threat like they might usually."

"They consider me... a threat?" But it made sense. It sounded like a lot of people on both sides were very powerful, and both sides wanted her. One to make her part of them, one to keep the other from using her against humankind. It was scary, in a way, to think that she might be important in a war that she hadn't even known about until less than half an hour before, a prize of immeasurable worth. An amazing young woman.

And a weapon.

"Yes," her father said. "You've always been a threat, or at least once your power levels grew over the levels that Perkins could safely contain." He stared at the pattern on the mug. "You are your mother's daughter, Emery, and your mother was no pushover. Your grandparents were extremely dangerous, another reason why I really didn't want to be anywhere near them, or to have you anywhere near them."

Emery looked at her father. "And if I go with my Enshanti relatives, your friends, the same ones that rescued me as a baby, will consider me a threat. Again."

"It's something to think about," her father said. "And if you don't want to be in danger from them... you could always seek refuge with the human hunters I know. I could drive you down to Sacramento and make arrangements, and someone would pick you up. You wouldn't be Emery Peters, just like you weren't what your mother named you so long ago. I don't want you to think that names are immutable, especially when you're you, when you need to be someone else. Women take their husbands' names anyway, but this is more than that. You don't lose who you are when you change your name, not when you get married, and not when you have to hide. Keep that in mind, Emery, because I don't think you're going to die as Emery Peters, one way or another."

Emery nodded. "So, I have a choice, but it's going to hurt either way."

"That's about the long and the short of it," her father agreed. "You can either stay human and lose your name, or accept your Enshanti heritage and possibly be killed." He rubbed his face. "Personally, I'd rather you let me call Perkins. He can get you to a safe place and find a way to reinforce the protection. Maybe there's some magic that he knows that will keep you away from them." He got up, started pacing. "I'd rather lose you knowing Perkins will do his best to keep you human than lose you to the Enshanti. I don't want my daughter to be killed... and I don't want you to be a killer like your Mom."

“And Guy and Shina are probably Enshanti,” Emery mused. She had to wonder if Guy was really in love with her, or if he was just acting that way because she'd been missing by the Enshanti for so long.

“Oh, I have no doubt that our most recent customer is Enshanti,” her father said, regarding the clock on the wall. “I don't doubt that he'd like to get you out of here and someplace safe, and if he can't manage it, and if the two of them can't manage it, then I'm sure more and more Enshanti will come. You have two aunts, that I know. I'm sure you have other relatives out there that would be happy to see you. I just don't want to turn you over to them, or feel like I have.”

“Dad,” Emery asked, “If I leave, what will become of KentPet Harps? We have a business here. We have a home, a place that we love. We're not rich, but we're not in the red, either. And we make good harps.”

Her father barked in laughter. “Little one, chances are that KentPet will be done as a harp manufaturer very very shortly. By both human and Enshanti standards, I committed murder... and as a human that killed an Enshanti, their justice would be killing me on the spot.”

“But if I objected?” Emery asked. “Dad....”

“My life and the existance of KentPet is nothing compared to your safety,” her father said. “I may die shortly, but I don't want you to be a monster. I left almost everything I'd ever known to bring you here to safety. I knew that at any point that they could find us, kill me, take you. But I did this because I love you, and I wanted you to be happy, for as long as it lasted. I was rather hoping I'd be in the ground and you'd be an old woman before they did, even that you'd be able to live your whole entire life as a human, but apparently that's not quite going to happen.”

“So, to keep me safe, you're going to have me lose Hayfork,” Emery said. “Dad, I'm not sure I can be anybody else.”

“Yes, you can,” her father said, turningto face her, crossing back to where she was sitting. “Because you are my daughter, and I know you can. Just because my life is forfeit now doesn't mean that you should give up what makes you essentially Emery.”

“Dad....”

“It's your choice,” her father said, “And you're in your mid-thirties, Emery. I can't choose for you at this point.”

Emery nodded. “I'm afraid, Dad. I'm not sure I'd still be Emery either way.”

“Not in name,” her father said. “But at least if you stayed true to your human blood, you'd always be the human I raised you be. And if for some reason you choose to be Enshanti... I won't stop you. I'm ready to face the consequences of who I am, but you're innocent of all this. I can only hope, Emery, that you'll make the right choice.”

Emery hoped so too. “But I don't want you to die,” she said. “Can't you run with me?”

Her father laughed. “I could, but I won't. I'm already tainted to the others in a way. I would rather redeem myself by protecting my only child.”

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” Emery asked. “Dad....”

“Listen, Emery,” her father said, “While the whole thing's going to erupt soon, I don't think that it's going to happen so soon that you can't sleep – or work – on it. If you want to talk to those Enshanti, go ahead. Just keep in mind that I took you out of there for a reason.”

Emery nodded. “I'll call Guy. We'll talk. Might as well all talk here.”

“I don't think they'll like me very much,” her father said. “Would you rather I be here when you called him?”

“Yes, I would,” Emery said. “I want to hear both sides of the story.” She looked at her father. “And it makes sense now.”

“What does, Emery?” her father asked.

“The stories that Guy's been telling about the cousin of his that got killed, the one with the baby. That was me and Mom, wasn't it?”

“I don't know what story or stories that the man's been telling you,” her father said, “But I suspect that they might be your mother's family's point of view on things.”

“She wrote a song for me,” Emery said. “For baby me. Guy played it for me. He had it memorized.” Did she really mean that much to her mother's side of the family, enough that he felt he had to memorize it?

“I wonder if he knew even then,” her father mused. “But I can't force you. I just have to home that you're enough my daughter to do the right thing.”

Nodding, Emery picked up the phone. “I just....”

“If you can't do it, then don't,” her father said, “The don't.” He settled down. “That's it, I'm having coffee and I don't care what the doctor says.”

“Dad,” Emery pleaded, putting the phone down. “Don't prepare to die.”

“I'm not,” her father said. “I'm merely having coffee, and there's nothing that anybody can do about it. Not my doctor, not you, not anybody.”

Rolling her eyes, Emery took her father's mug away. “No, I'll make you some more tea. Things have got to work out, they have to.” Somehow, there had to be a good solution. Somehow, her father could be saved and she could still be human and yet she could still have her mother's kin about. Right at the moment, however, she had doubts that at least the Enshanti would listen. Her father might, but she wasn't sure about that.

Her father, behind her, was silent.

She went into the next day not totally able to concentrate, being too busy trying to figure out what the whole thing meant. She was half Enshanti, someone whose mother ate humans, and yet, her father had survived. From what she could tell, both sides loved her. She doubted it was a power thing. It was a two families loving her so much thing. And those familites were coming into conflict.

With everything that was happening, peace seemed too much to hope for. She wondered if Guy was still hanging around with his harp or if he were headed back to Flagstaff; it seemed logical for him to hang around, just as he had before.

Shina was staying, she knew, to get a feel for Hayfork, to get an idea of things, and to no doubt keep an eye on Emery and KentPet Harps. She was probably finding out as much as she could about Emery too, from the locals. Emery knew that if Shina was Enshanti - which she probably was - then she would probably be eating a few townspeople too. It seemed to be something that an energy vampire would do.

"You're busy brooding," her father observed. "You want a day off? I know it's a big thing that you've heard, and I... I know that it's something that's going to be hard to deal with, especially if you're not used to that big a secret. I'm just sorry I couldn't protect you more, Emery."

"It's bad luck," Emery said. "And nothing's going to change things now. I... just can't concentrate."

"Then don't." Her father took a harp out of her hands. "Go. Take a walk. A drive. Whatever you need to do to get your head clear. You've got this very huge decision in front of you, and I don't want to rush you. I want you to get it right."

"And if I run across Shina and Guy... or other Enshanti?" Emery asked.

"I doubt Hayfork's been overrun by Enshanti," her father said, smiling. "I don't think even they're that fast. You do have some breathing room... and I want you to think. I know I was kind of controlling before, but I really meant well. I just... wanted to protect you, Emery."

"I know," she said. "And I'm grateful, but I'm very confused." She stared at the harp as if she'd never seen it before.

"If you weren't, you'd be able to concentrate instead of staring," her father told her. "Go on, go downtown. Go to Redding. Think. Make up your mind. And... these are your people too. I... know they have to have their say."

Emery stared at the harp for a few seconds more before deciding her father's advice was sound. "Okay, Dad," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

She took the truck down to the main strip. A chocolate milkshake sounded good, so she headed over to Irene's. Besides, if Shina - who didn't have any way to contact her, she realized - wanted to talk, the easiest place was there.

"That cousin of your boyfriend's is just all over the place," Irene said. "It's amazing. She's talking to everyone, figuring out their needs, making calls... everybody loves her. We're so glad you picked her up."

The delight in Irene's voice made Emery blink. Of course, Shina would keep up her cover story. She'd also want to know about Emery, of course. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just a bit disconcerting. And the other woman didn't mean any harm... at least not to her. If anything, she was about to be welcomed into a family she'd never known because... well, because her father had killed her mother. "I'm glad I found her too," she said. "Or at least Guy. Who hopefully isn't lost."

"Shina said that your boyfriend was doing *just* fine and was on his way safely to Flagstaff, with orders not to break any more GPSes." There was humor in Irene's tone. She collected the menu. "I like those two. Your Dad likely to let up?"

"Well," Emery said, "I think he might be unbending a little. I think Guy kind of reminds him of things that happened a long long time ago."

"When he met your mom?" Irene asked.

"Sorta," Emery told her. "It's a very long story that I suspect I haven't heard a tenth of."

Irene grinned. "I'll take your word for it." She headed off to make the milkshake.

A few minutes later, the milkshake was done, and Emery had had time to think. Her cousin - because Shina had to be related - would hold some clues as to what Emery would do next. She'd just have to be careful and not commit to anything, no matter how her Enshanti relatives felt about things. She knew that it might be a tough conversation - but she was going to do it anyway.

"So, anything else you need?" Irene asked.

"Milkshake's good for the moment," Emery said. "But do you happen to have Shina's telephone number? For some reason, I've got Guy's but not Shina's."

"Oh, of course," Irene said. "We've been talking a lot about you." She got out her own cellphone. "Here you go."

Emery duly copied the number into the emergency cellphone. "Thanks."

"Enjoy your milkshake," Irene called.

Ignoring the milkshake, Emery pondered things. Of course it made sense for Shina to pump Irene for information - Irene knew a lot about Emery. A lot of people knew a lot about her, except of course for the fact that she was half-Enshanti. She had to have some powers, she was sure, but she had no clue what they were.

She got out the cellphone and dialled the number that Irene had given her. It picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hello, Shina? This is Em-"

"Emery!" Shina's voice was excited. "I want to tell you how much I'm enjoying Hayfork. This is a beautiful town you've got here."

"Um, thanks. I'm at Irene's; will you be done soon, and can you meet me here? I have to talk to you about... certain things. Probably things that are best discussed at the School Park, but I'd like to meet up here."

"No problem," Shina said. "I always have room for you. Just stay there, and I'll be up in about half an hour, when I finish talking to a person or two more."

"Thanks," Emery said, hanging up. She finished her shake slowly, waiting until Shina came in, and then paid her bill at the cash register. It probably would have been on the house, but she wanted to make sure it was paid. Irene liked feeding her with free food, but Emery knew that Irene could use a little bit more money coming in.

"So," Shina said, "Let me show you to my rental car, and we can take it there."

"Well, it's only about a block," Emery said. "Do you mind? Walking, I mean."

Shina laughed. "Of course not. Walking is good for anybody."

So the two of them walked down the street, down to School, and walking down School a bit until they came to the small park. Thankfully, it was deserted.

"Dad told me his side of the story," Emery said after they sat down on the grass in the shade. "Now I want to hear things from my mother's family."

"I'm surprised that he told you *anything*, the Enshanti woman said. "So, you know now that you and we are related?"

"And that I've been missing for years and years," Emery agreed. "Dad told me a lot, and he told me what he thought I should do next but... I think he feels really sorry for Mom's death. He doesn't want to deprive me of my Enshanti heritage."

Shina blinked. "Your father, a hunter, a known hunter, doesn't want you to be deprived?"

"Well, he's... he'd rather I be human, but... I think it's his own small way of making up for things." No mentioning smuggling her out here. Nothing that would make the Enshanti more furious. "I mean, he didn't want to tell me, but since his hand was forced... I think he finally saw that I had to know both parts of my bloodline. Now I want to know more about my Mom and my family."

"I... never thought that this would happen," Shina said, still blinking every so often after a few moments of silence. "But... the important thing is that you do know and that you are aware." She took Emery's hand. "Are you willing to take the necklace off now?"

"I'm not sure about that," Emery answered. "I'm not sure I'm ready to take the necklace off, it's just... I don't think Dad has unbiased information on the... er, our kind... and, er, I want to make sure that I know what I'm doing."

Sighing, Shina said, "All right. I think I can do that, because I know it has to be a shock."

"It is," Emery told her. "I had no clue I wasn't human before, and to find this out... it's just absolutely... I'm rediscovering family I never knew I had, and it's wonderful and scary at the same time, and I'll hope that you'll forgive me for being just a little scared. Dad says... keeps saying... how close my Mom's family is, and I... suddenly have family. Lots of family. That I can talk to."

"Oh, you poor thing," Shina said, drawing her into a hug. "Of course you have lots and lots of family. Family that loves you and we've been worried about you. Your mother was *killed* because of what she was; we were terrified that you might have been too, because hunters don't always bother to differentiate. In some ways, we were lucky that your father *was* a hunter, that means that he might be a bit more willing to use you."

"Dad... just was scared and wanted me out of there," Emery told her, not resisting the hug. "He knows he did something bad... I know he did something bad... it's... I don't want him to be hurt for something that he's long regreted. And I want to be something; I want to live up to my heritage." She took a deep breath. "I don't want to lost KentPet."

"Lose KentPet? Harps?" Shina asked, confused. "Why would you lose it? This is a wonderful place to live, why would we take you away from it? I've contacted several Enshanti business owners; I can get up a sizeable colony here if I needed to, but I think all this place needs is a couple to clean things up."

"Clean things up? You mean...."

"Getting rid of all those druggies and such that detract from the beauty of your town, then taking down all those collapsing buildings. A family or two of our kind will keep the druggies out of Hayfork, and that'll help. Of course KentPet Harps will stay here, the area needs the business. And we'd like you to keep doing what you love."

"Really?" Emery asked, brightening. "You can bring Hayfork back from the brink?"

"It'll be a bit tough, but... this is a perfect place for a couple of families I know," Shina said thoughtfully. "And I know they'll love the place too. This place is a real gem, Emery, I don't think you realize how much of one." She gazed around. "I don't want it to lose its small-town charm, but it does need a bit of propping up. This is a place that I like. I'm tempted to move here myself, and I'm sure it's showing. This is such a magic place...."

"Yes, it is an amazing place," Emery said. "But... it's... I just don't know. It seems so strange to not only now have the family I never knew I had, but to have them come here and fix my town's problems... it's so amazing."

"Well, it's your home," Shina said. "It's kind of an apology for not coming here sooner and fixing things. If we'd known where you were, we would have rescued you sooner. But we didn't, so... it's also a beautiful place and I don't want you to think we're doing it just for your sake."

"Because you like it too," Emery said. "That's so amazing to me, that my own relatives would come here and make this their home, too." She frowned. "But you're not from Boston."

Shina laughed. "Your branch of the family's from Boston; mine and Guy's is not. We're not quite as amazing as your bunch is. You want power, you talk to them. More nobles in that family than beasts, and they're very very proud of it."

"Nobles? Beasts?" Emery asked. "Um... still new at this thing."

"I guess your father really wouldn't know this kind of thing," her cousin mused. "Well, here's how it goes, cousin dear: when you're a teenager, you're put to a test of your natural abilities. If you're very powerful, you retain human form, if you fail, you become a beast. That's so that we have a balance of powers; the bestial ones become more powerful in their bestial forms to make up for the power they didn't have in their human ones. I'm guessing you, since you're from the Boston branch, probably would be Noble, human-appearing. Of course, they do have their occasional beast as well."

"Dad... kind of guessed something like that," Emery offered. "He says that's one of the reasons he took me away. He liked me being, well, human."

Shina shook her head. "That was awfully selfish of him, wasn't it?" she asked. "You are Enshanti, and no matter how he felt, he should have known better. But Hunters rarely do, so...."

"I think Dad now knows better," Emery said. "I want him to live through this. He knows he did wrong. He has regrets."

Shaking her head, Shina said, "It's not up to us, it's up to the Elders. My Elders, your Elders, the people who pass judgement on the sinners. It probably wouldn't look good - he killed one of us, kidnapped another - but even killers can repent."

"I don't think it would be easy to accept my Dad's death," Emery told her. "I'm not sure I could run KentPet Harps without my Dad."

"Well, I have confidence that you could. Take Guy's help if you needed to." Shina smiled. "Of course, the Elders might decide to spare your father. You never know these kinds of things. He is someone that could be of use to us, being an ex-hunter."

"He pretty much is." Never mind that he used his connection to run background checks on her potential suitors, or that he had the network in which to smuggler her out if needed be. He wasn't hunting Enshanti, that's probably what mattered.

"Ex-hunters are always good," Shina said. "It's good for humans to see sense, especially those who foolishly hunt our kind." She took a breath. "I'm sorry, I should have brought something to eat."

"Food like human food, or a human meal?" Emery asked, curious.

"Human food," Shina said. "You won't be able to drain humans until you go through testing, and I'm not stupid enough to hunt publicly."

Emery nodded. "I'm glad that I have such good relatives."

"We'll make you proud of us," Shina said, nodding. "We'll take good care of your town. And hopefully, the Elders will show mercy on your father. But there's no guarantee they will, just that... I... we... we're so glad to have you back." Suddenly Emery was caught up in an almost bone-crushing hug. "We've missed you for so long, and now you're back with us."

Only if her father didn't have anything to say about that, which he probably did, or probably had in his entire little speech to her. "It's good to have my kinfolk around," she said, "Even if I'm still not sure on what to make of things."

"I'd be happy to answer any questions you have," Shina promised. "And if I can't answer them, Guy can, or one of the Elders. One way or another, we'll make you feel comfortable with what you should be."

Emery blushed. She wasn't sure of how they'd think of her father's plans to keep her safe, and she wasn't about to blurt them out to the Enshanti. "It's good. I just... how fast can the druggie problem be cleaned up?"

"Well," Shina frowned, sounding thoughtful, "Not fast-fast. You've got a problem here and we only need to feed about once a month, so... a family might take a year or two to clean things up, and after that, they'd hunt in other towns. As you can tell, we are of great benefit to regions, because we take care of those that would harm our local communities."

"I'm very glad to hear that," Emery said in relief. So, they hunted bad guys. That was good. That might not be too bad to live with. "Once a month?"

"Once a month," Shina said. "I mean, you could eat more, eat more often, but why would you? We're here to be useful to people, not to cause problems. This is a community that needs the good people and not the bad people."

"Yes, it does," Emery agreed. "And I'm glad you're here."

Shina smiled. "I'm glad I'm here too. And I'm glad you're accepting things so far. It's so wonderful to have a missing child back, and to have you turn out so well... your mother's family will be so proud to see what you've become!"

If she stayed there, she mused. Of course, again, not telling the Enshanti that fact. That would be foolish. She didn't want to get her father or herself in trouble, especially if it might make her life depend on it.

"Speaking of family," Emery said, "How's Guy doing? Is he lost? Do we get to look forward to him haunting our fairgrounds?"

"Haunting the fairgrounds? Quite possibly, but he's carrying a spare GPS, just in case, because my cousin is so bad at the directions thing." Shina laughed again. "He'd get lost in a wet paper bag, as I'm sure he's told you. It's... I love him, he's an amazing musician, but when things settle down and you two get a family together? Hopefully the kids won't inherit his navigational genes, or you're all doomed. Doomed, I say."

"Well, as long as there aren't any zombie goats, and that we don't see any signs of the apocalypse."

"I can't promise on the zombie goats - I swear there are some in Sacramento. Or was that ghostly goats? I'm not sure. But apocalypses? No. Things will go on as they've always been. We keep an eye on the humans and advance our kind, and in return, the human species provides us with food. Preferably in the form of the most scummy."

"So, you hunt humans, but they're all scoundrels?" Emery asked in relief.

"Well, yes," Shina said. "Why wouldn't we? There are some that prefer the energy of virgins or children or whatever, but I believe that the best thing we can do for the humans around us is to get rid of the people who cause them harm. That way, we get a good meal for the month and do a public service for the humans."

"Public service... that sounds good," Emery said. "I hadn't realized my family was that way."

"Well," Shina said, shrugging, "Some do eat some non-scummy humans. But a lot of us don't feel that we should feed on anything but the scum of the earth. There's a large amount of us that look for jobs in the prison industry just so that we can feed on felons. Others feel that all humankind is available for us, but I don't think so. The best thing we can do for humans is to be their saviors, not something to be feared.

Emery nodded. "That's amazing. I still need to think on things, absorb all this, but that's just... so amazing."

Shina grinned. "I'm glad I have a chance to clarify, and I'm glad you're so open-minded. I mean, one of your aunts will be coming to help you adapt, but it'll be good for you to get into things like this. It'll be nice to have you together and whole again, instead of being unknowing. Because you are one of us; we are your people, and I want you to feel comfortable around us."

"So, they're coming here? I'm not going back to Boston?" Emery asked.

"Well, the family will come to judge your father," Shina said, "And look at you, and make sure you're all right and are handling things okay and things like that. We realize you've had quite a hard trauma and we don't want to hurt you, but you are home and we need you to realize that."

"I'm starting to realize that," Emery admitted. "It's just so much to absorb!" She looked thoughtfully at Shina. So far, everything was going well. "Though I'm not sure at the moment whether I'm Emery or not."

"You mean, what your name is?" Shina asked. "Well, it really doesn't matter. You can be Emery if you want - in fact, since you're used to it, you might as well stay it. We want you to be happy, Emery, not scrambling to adjust to a new name on top of everything else. Enshanti names might be a bit odd, but we don't make people use them among humans - though some choose to do so, or their parents do so. It's all a matter of taste."

Emery nodded. "So, I'm not required to change my name," she said in relief.

"You're Emery," Shina said. "You're my cousin who's just been refound. What your true name is doesn't matter - you'll get used to it eventually."

"Thank goodness," Emery said. "I like being Emery Peters."

"And so Emery Peters you shall stay," Shina said with some amusement. "And I think, next time you need to choose a human name, that you might choose that one. People will think it's so exotic, your real name, so cool. That's why I have mine. It's distinctive. People don't forget me."

"My teachers have never forgotten mine," Emery offered shyly. "Emery, like the board."

Shina laughed at that. "Yes, that is an advantage," she said. "And it's a nice name. I'm sure your mother would have approved of your father's choice in names. He sounds like, unlike most hunters, he has his head together. Which is always a good thing."

"I like mine," Emery said, "So I'm glad that I can still be that same person." It sounded so much nicer to be people who would accept that she wanted to be Emery Peters. She really didn't want to go to a place where she wouldn't be Emery. No matter whether it would save her soul or her or anything.

"You are the person you are, no matter what your name is," Shina said. "That's why we are always given true names and human names, just so that we have a name to hold onto and not forget who we are. 'Shina' is not my birth name, or my true name. I picked it out because I liked it. You might choose to come up with a different name when it's time for you to become a new person."

"You're old enough to need a new name," Emery observed. She'd noticed what Shina'd said when she'd mentioned it.

"Yes, but not very - I'm in my eighties, so I'm not even a century when our Elders are typically centuries older," Shina said. "I was born in 1924. That's not very old by our standards."

"That's old by human standards," Emery said. "It's... how long can Enshanti live?"

"Centuries," Shina said. "Me? I'm young. Guy is practically in his teens by Enshanti standards - and he's a decade older than you. And you? You're a baby by our standards."

"The baby of the family?" Emery asked, though she almost couldn't believe her ears. Her, the baby of the family. "And I'm Lathey Lusk."

"Well, right now you're Emery Peters," Shina pointed out. "Don't forget that. To the Elders, you're Lathey, but to the rest of us... we're quite happy for you to be Emery. So, don't go change your name quite yet, since you'll still need to be Emery for quite a while longer."

Emery nodded, looking at her cousin. "Somehow, I didn't expect a lot of this, including the two names."

"Well, that's what you get for being of Enshanti blood," Shina teased. "A real name, and a chosen name. The chosen name, the human name, is the one your parents give you until you're capable of moving on and choosing your own. And after that? Well, up to you." She smiled. "Speaking of names, shall we call Guy and check to make sure he's not lost somewhere?"

"Let's," Emery agreed. She wanted to make sure her potential boyfriend was all right, especially since he was also a cousin. "Um, how close are we related?"

"Well, kind of shirttail relatives - we say cousin, but it's like... not close cousins," Shina said. "If you wanted to marry Guy, there would be no problem. It's not a big deal. And we'd be happy to welcome you to our branch. Of course, you'll have to go through the test like a teenager before the marriage, but your family... your connections... you should be a noble."

"Noble. I like the sound of that," Emery decided. "I rather like the idea of remaining in the form I've got, thanks."

"Well, you don't need the power of the Bestial form," Shina said. "I can tell that even with that necklace on. Without it? You're probably rather damn powerful. Like the rest of that family."

"I've got a lot to learn, though," Emery said. "It's just... just...."

Shina laughed. "Let's call Guy before you pass out from familial acceptance," she said, laughing. She pulled out her cell phone and hit the speed dial. "Guy? This is Shina. How are you? Did you charge that second GPS like I told you to? You're not, say, in Roswell instead of on your way to Flagstaff, are you? No? You're lost in Barstow instead. Guy...." She rolled her eyes. "You are not allowed to get lost in Barstow. Hey, here's your girlfriend. Tell her all about it."

Emery was handed the phone by Shina. "Guy?"

"Hi, there, Emery," he said. "How are you doing up there?" His tone was warm, accepting. It was amazing.

"Pretty good," she said. "How's the harp?"

"I seem not to have damaged it, despite my sudden turn into residential Barstow," he said. "But my trusty GPS will get me out of trouble."

He was probably striking a dramatic pose in his rented truck. She laughed. "Of course it will, that's why you have two," she said.

"Ah, you've been talking to Shina," Guy said. "How is your father taking things?"

"Well, he's very sorry about what he did," Emery said, "And he wanted you to know that."

"I can't say I'm thrilled that he's alive," Guy said, "But I'm sure Shina has told you that we're just so glad that you're safe and sound and relatively okay for someone that didn't get to grow up as she was supposed to grow up. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier, but I'm glad you know about yourself now."

"I'm still getting used to it," Emery confessed. "But I wanted to thank you - both of you - for what you've done so far."

"It's too bad I'm hauling my very precious KentPet harp home, or I'd be hugging the very precious KentPet heir," Guy said. "But I don't want this fine harp that you put so much work into to go to waste."

"Neither do I, so don't get lost," Emery teased.

"I'm not that bad, really," Guy said. "I... just seem that way."

She grinned. "I'm sure you are. Not that bad, I mean. But it's an amusing image."

"Is he insisting he doesn't get lost?" Shina asked.

Emery took a moment to nod at her before continuing the conversation with Guy. "I rather liked the idea of haunting the fairgrounds forever," she teased.

He laughed. "Well, we do have a couple of centuries to live, now that you know what you are and can go Test. I'd love the idea of haunting the fairgrounds with you. It seems so... romantic. Besides, I liked what I saw of those fairgrounds. But first, I have to get the damned harp home."

"Did you know from the moment you saw me what I was?" she asked. "That I was your missing cousin?"

"Not as such," he admitted. "I knew when I touched you that you had Enshanti heritage, but I couldn't figure out why you seemed to detect so weak. It wasn't until I talked to my mother that I started realizing what had happened with you. Then I knew that I'd have to come back for you - though I have to admit, it would have been a little more impressive had I not botched the measurements. I was really planning to come back with a bunch of others of our kind, but then Shina insisted that she get to see the town she's adopting, and so... well, I'm sure there'll be an invasion, but at least it won't be as terrifying, now that you know what you are and the importance of who you are."

"You were going to call out the cavalry?" Emery asked, amused.

"Pretty much," he agreed. "I was terrified that the first glance I got of you would be my last. After all, hunters are amazingly paranoid and I didn't want to alarm your father. As far as I knew, you'd probably be shipped somewhere else the very next day! But, I guess your Dad is penitent, so nothing to worry about there. It's great to have a cooperative hunter, they're so much easier to deal with. Especially with issues as weighty as you and your future."

"I guess... that I have to test first," she said, "before I figure out my future."

"Yes, once you test, it'll be easier to see you as someone other than 'Lathey, the girl that was kidnapped as a baby and now doesn't know anything about who she is," Guy said. "Anyway, I'm going to try to get unlost, so I'll talk to you later."

"Good luck! And don't get lost in the next town over!" Emery said before hanging up the phone and handing it to Shina. It was amazing how lost the man could get.

"Guy's good," Shina said, "When he's not lost." She grinned once more. "So, you know about us, sort of. I mean, it's not what hunters like your father was make it out to be. Yes, humans are our food - will be yours, too, when you get to that point, after you go through the Test to see if you need more power. I doubt you will, however. Even here, I can tell that your power is limited, and it's not exactly weak. You're probably going to be one of our strongest crossbreeds. Your mother chose well, at least in that department. I just wish she'd chosen a little more wisely. One of your relatives would have been better than a hunter."

"I... thank you?" Emery asked, not sure of how to take things. She was starting to realize that her Enshanti relatives were a little bit... not odd, but in some ways inhuman. "Are crossbreeds normal?"

"Well, where else would we get variety in our bloodlines, and new blood?" the Enshanti asked. "We like to breed with humans - we're always on the lookout for good breeding stock. If your father isn't killed for the murder he committed, he will be taken to someplace where we can use him to breed. Just because he did something really bad doesn't mean his genes aren't good."

"Oh, good," Emery said. "But... you... there are breeding centers?"

"Small ones, disguised to be sure, but breeding centers," Shina said. "Sometimes, human bloodlines are too precious to allow to live in the outside world. The Elders might designate his bloodline as precious. If they do, he'll be held for breeding, either with humans or Enshanti, but not allowed to leave until he dies. Or the Elders might desire to have him there for a while, and then to be executed for the murders he committed. It's something that only they'd know, and it'll depend a whole lot on how he comes across. One thing to keep in mind is that the Elders don't like unnecassary killing - if you don't need to eat, you don't. If you're a glutton, we have our own forces and we keep people in check. Humanity has nothing to fear from us."

"I'm surprised that the world doesn't know about the Enshanti, then," Emery said. "Wouldn't it make sense to do something like that?"

"Elders say that there would be too many people freaked out about that sort of thing," Shina said, shrugging. "I believe them. I don't have any desire to be killed by my prey, and a lot of people feel the same way."

"I can guess that you wouldn't," Emery said, a little abashed. "It's just that...."

"You get used to being one thing and pretending to be another," Shina reassured her. "Since you were raised as a human, it'll be easier than you think. You just have to get out of some human mindsets, such as the fact that you're limited in life and that killing a human is murder."

"And killing an Enshanti?" Emery asked, unable to resist asking. She wanted to save her father, and if she could save him from either dying or being a breeder, she would.

"You're still worried about your Dad, aren't you?" Shina asked. "Well, I have to admit, he is more penitent than I thought he'd be. I wouldn't trust him to raise kids but... there's a lot of musicians in our ranks. Enshanti love music, or at least a lot of us do. I'm sure there are many young Enshanti who would love to learn harp making. We're not going to pretend that nothing happened, Emery, but I'm sure there's some mercy among the Elders."

"I think Dad would prefer teaching his arts to his own grandkids," Emery said. "But he's also willing - waiting - to die. He knows he did something wrong."

"And penitence will get him a lot of places... he might even live out his natural lifespan, in captivity," Shina said, "Depending on the Elders and what they think. Some of them aren't really happy with him, but he is valuable in his own way. He does seem like a man who could make it in captivity. And none of us like killing unless we have to; to rehabilitate him would be a triumph."

Emery nodded. Maybe KentPet harps would survive after all, or at least survive in the scheme of things. "I don't want to lose him, Shina."

"I know," Shina said. "And I don't want to lose KentPet either. If he could train some younger folk to follow in your footsteps, then KentPet would continue. And I'd like to see KentPet continue; I've grown rather fond of the business name and the town. Besides, it would be silly if we could save the town and lose the business that brought us to it. Wouldn't look too good to the townsfolk, either. No, KentPet Harps will continue one way or another."

"I'd love to keep my father at the helm," Emery said. "He knows more about the financial end; I'm merely good at making the harps."

Shina smiled. "We'll make it work, Emery, don't worry. We'll make it work. Somehow. Some way."

Emery considered this. It was becoming increasingly apparent that in order to save her father, she had to be Enshanti. She had to be something he might despise. Because if she left, if she disappeared, he'd certainly die. He might not be keen on being sent to an Enshanti breeding center, but it would keep him alive and going, and she could stop worrying about the family legacy of harp making, because she'd have half-brothers and half-sisters to keep the business going.

"It's so much to take in," Emery said, "But as you said, it'll be the Elders' decision." She paused as she thought. "When will they come?"

"Very soon, I think," Shina said. "This is very very important, after all, your return and dealing with the murder of your mother. She was well-beloved, you know."

"I'm beginning to get that impression," Emery said. "Did you know her?"

"Kind of, remotely," Shina said. "She was an amazing woman. Very talented. Good taste in those who hung around with her. A good person, all around." She looked at the distant mountains. "Your father has a lot to answer for, Emery."

"I know," Emery said. "I just hope people realize how much he's changed since he took me away."

"I hope so too," Shina said. "I know he means a lot to you."

The two of them watched the mountains for a bit before Emery finally excused herself. She did have to talk to her Dad, after all, about what was happening and what they could do. She eventually headed back to the truck, driving it out of the parking lot of Irene's Delights, and heading home.

Her father was working on a small harp when she got there. "How'd it go?" he asked. "You heard their side of the story?"

Emery nodded. "It's... it sounds like it's not too bad, but...."

"You're my little girl," her father said, "And I raised you right. I made a call out to Perkins. He's going to be in touch with someone who can take you in until they can put you together a new identity and a new life. I know you'll be in good hands, even if the Enshanti kill me for what I did."

"It doesn't have to be that way, Dad," Emery stated. "If I stay here, the Enshanti might spare your life."

Her father laughed. "Really? A murderer? Don't make me laugh more, Emery, because they're killers and they know they're killers. I wouldn't be expecting mercy from any of them."

Emery took a deep breath and thought about what Shina had said. "Shina thinks that your life might be spared as a way to present a good image to the community. And... you're prime breeding material, possibly. At least she thinks so. She thinks that you'd have good part-Enshanti kids."

"So, if I don't die, I create more monsters," her father said, his laughter turning rough. "Because that's what they'd be, Emery, monsters."

"Dad," Emery asked, "Do you consider *me* a monster?" She held her breath. When her father had considered her future half-siblings to be monsters, she wasn't sure about that.

"Well, of course not," her father said, "Because I raised you right. You know the difference between right and wrong, and you obey that difference. They don't. I don't want you to think you are a monster, Emery, because then you might become one. Which you aren't, in any way, shape or form." He reached for a mug of something dark, probably coffee, and sipped it. "You are my beloved daughter, and you are not a monster."

Emery blushed. "Thanks, Dad." She wondered how he'd feel if he knew at the moment that she desperately wanted to have him live, to keep KentPet Harps going. He'd probably think that she was a monster after all. But she had to keep his dream alive, even if it seemed to break him.

It wasn't an easy thing that she was doing, she would much rather have lived out her life in ignorance and everything and not having to make the choice, but her choice was there and she had to figure out where to go. She had no doubt that Perkins would take her away, probably to safety, if her father asked. Heck, even if her father did not ask. He sounded like the kind of man who would do that. And her Enshanti relatives would be more than happy to spare her father if it was useful to them. It wasn't like their whole society would come to an end if one man was sent to be bred by the Enshanti. And KentPet Harps would continue, even if not in the present form.

"Whatever's best for my little girl," her father said. He was Kent. He was KentPet. She had to save him even if he hated her for it. He was smiling at her, not knowing what she planned.

"It's scary," she admitted. "I don't want to lose being Emery."

"You will always be Emery," her father said. "Emery is within you. It's just... you have to change your name and be somebody else, if you plan to be the woman I wanted you to be. Don't be tempted by the Enshanti offers; you won't be Emery if you do."

"Who is Emery?" Emery asked. "That's what it comes down to." It really did, really. She had always been Emery, always been Lathey, always been who her father wanted her to be, carried her real name secretly, locked in the memories that she'd had when she was a baby.

"Emery is a sweet young woman from Hayfork that knows harps. She won't lose that even if she somehow becomes Sarah, or Susan, or any other name," her father said. "Because you know who you are."

But did she? Did she know who she was? Who she might be? She wasn't entirely sure about that.

"I hope I do know who I am," she said softly. "Sometimes, it doesn't feel like it."

Her father offered her the harp that she'd recently completed. "Play it," he said.

"Play it?" she echoed. "Why?"

"Because I think we get to know ourselves through music," he said. "By playing it, by being it. Music makes the world go round. It makes all things seem possible. It can relax or it can agitate. A true musician knows that. And after all I've said about the Enshanti, that harpist does know this universal truth."

"You'd consider Guy a true musician?" she asked. She was surprised. Before he'd been the customer with the measuring issues, or the Enshanti that wanted to take her away.

"Well, of *course* he's a true musician," her father said. "Just because he's a monster doesn't make him any less so. It never made your mom any less so. For all your mother's faults, she knew music. She lived it, she breathed it. She made me wish I was something more. You? You are your mother's daughter as well as mine. Music flows in your veins."

"Music is the poetry of the soul," she said, agreeing. "Amazing." She checked the harp over and made sure it was true before playing it. The music that came out was an old song, one that her father had taught her to play, a song full of longing and hope and everything else.

"I've heard that the Enshanti of Japan choose poetic or lyrical names," her father said. "They're said to have poetry in their very soul. Which means they have music in their very souls." He sighed. "If only they weren't monsters and we weren't their prey...."

"Dad..." Emery said, and then stopped. What could she say?

"Wherever you end up, Emery, teach your children well." Her father turned wistful. "Music is part of everybody's souls, it's just that most people never even hear it. Which is a shame, really. It's a fantastic thing, and one that attracted me to your mother. Finally, someone who *understood*...." He trailed off. "Music is a talent on both sides of your family tree. I'm not ashamed to have a half-Enshanti daughter. I just want a human half-Enshanti daughter. I don't want you to misuse the music that you carry in your soul."

"The hunters, the ones you're going to give me over to," Emery said. "Do they understand music like you do?"

Her father shrugged. "No, but that doesn't mean that you should lose your music. Keep the music going in your soul and you will overcome any obstacle life throws at you. Sing at funerals, laugh at births, shout yourself to the heavens. All is music. We just play it better."

"Sing. Laugh. Shout." Yes, all of those were music, she knew. All of them part of the tradition of music, though some would not agree. Human expression of life and those living it.

Could she live without this music? Without people who understood?

She wasn't sure, so she kept silent on that part. "I think... Mom might have understood better than you thought." Hopefully her Dad wouldn't take umbrage on that.

"She understood music," her father corrected. "That was important, but she still killed the music in humans. That's hard to forgive." He sighed. "You'll understand when you get older, Emery."

"I'm in my mid-thirties," she reminded her father. "I'm old enough that I should."

"But sometimes things take a lifetime to understand," her father said. "Sometimes you don't understand no matter how old you get."

"I hope it doesn't take that long," Emery said. "Even now, I want to understand immediately."

Her father laughed. "Don't worry, Emery," he said. "Someday you will. Being taken away will slow you down... but it won't kill your music. I promise you that."

"I hope so," Emery said. She had her doubts. Probably would always have her doubts. But she was going, she was keeping going, and no matter how she chose, she would still be Emery. She'd just have to work harder on it sometimes.

She at least knew that she had a choice, a choice between two sides. And worst came to worst, she did have alternatives, third choices, things like that. Nobody had said that she couldn't be both Enshanti and human; in fact, it sounded like Enshanti commonly had kids with humans. And that was something that she preferred, to honor both her heritages. From what her father had said, her mother had been a beautiful person... she also happened to be some sort of vampire or something like that.

And Emery was pretty sure that there were such things as half-vampires in myth, though what they did and why they existed, she wasn't sure. Probably the vampires and dhampir in history had been influenced by the existance of the Enshanti and their crossbreeds; there had to be those who knew the reality of how people like her existed. If needed be, people who lived independent of both species.

Eventually, she would find that out. But not at the moment, not with everything going on and her being unsure of how to handle things. Her father wanted her safe, so he wanted to send her to Perkins. Her mother's family wanted to keep her safe, and so she was being brought into their fold.

She wasn't sure she wanted either of those options, she really wanted everything to go back as it was, but she wasn't sure she had a choice in the matter. Her mother's family was more than happy to claim her, and her father's associates would gear up to save her.

In all, she could do without all of it, though hopefully everything would peacefully resolve. The least bloodless way had to be that of allowing herself to be with her Enshanti kin; they would more likely spare her father if they knew that she was safe. If she ran, then the chances were good that the Enshanti would execute him. And going with the hunters would be even worse in their eyes.

So, she couldn't run herself. She couldn't get away. But she could ensure that things were safe, were going to be safe for her father. If she stayed there, if she paid attention to things, if she seemed compliant, then maybe the whole thing with her relatives would blow over and everything would be all right. She would have her harps. She would continue to make her harps. She would be strong, for everything she needed to be strong for.

It, after all, meant the world to her.

She finished playing the harp and handed it back to her father, thoughtful. "I just... I'll think about it, Dad," she said finally.

"I know you will," her father said, accepting the harp back studying it with his critical eye. "I know you will."

A day or so after that, after Shina had left town to start her plans to revitalize Hayfork, her father got a guest. She didn't recognize the guy at all, but her father did. "Emery, may I present Lawrence Perkins to you. Law, this is my daughter; remember her?"

Mr. Perkins was a chubby man, surprisingly. Overweight. She had somehow been imagining a guy out of the picture she'd seen of pilgrims in colonial-era America. He looked like he bowled games with the guys and had too much beer on Sundays. "Hello, Mr. Perkins," she said.

"Hello, Emery," he said. He looked tired, and she wondered if he'd had any sleep lately. "It's been a very, very long time since I saw you last."

Emery nodded. "I know," she said. "It's... I guess I never did remember you, I was too young, right?"

"Given the last time I saw you, you were three, then yes," Mr. Perkins said. "I would have preferred that your father not have to call me in at all, but needs must." He cast an eye over her. "I see you're wearing the necklace; that's good."

"Of course," she said, raising her eyebrows. "I'm my father's daughter, and he raised me well."

Mr. Perkins smiled. "It's so good to hear that, after the effort I put out on your behalf," Mr. Perkins told her. "It's a good thing to see some sort of success on our end; so often, it's just pain and defeat."

"Pain and defeat?" Emery asked, surprised.

"The Enshanti are far more powerful than we are," Mr. Perkins said. "They hold the upper hand on things. We can only do so much to counter their power and influence - for they do have influence. The fact that you're human and not Enshanti is a miracle, by my standards, and I'm glad to see that you're so human - not that you weren't when you were a little girl, of course. I was a bit worried when you were very young and you started manifesting a Noble's power levels - you're a very strong, powerful young woman, and I hope that you put that power to the use of humankind."

Emery nodded numbly. "Right now... I just...."

Mr. Perkins just smiled some more. "It's probably not easy to be half Enshanti. To carry that kind of power in your veins. If that necklace were off you, you'd be noticeable for miles around... which is why you wear it, to leash and hide your power from the Enshanti. With your power, they could get a start on some of their more nefarious goals."

"Nefarious goals?" Emery asked. "Um. I apologize, Mr. Perkins, but I'm... I've just learned about this whole thing, and I don't know a whole lot about it."

He folded his hands. "Of course not. I know Kent was trying to raise you as human as possible. That's what I advised him to do, of course. So that you could be a good person, a good human. So that you soul wasn't trapped in an Enshanti darkness." He peered at her. "Do you go to church every Sunday?"

"Yes," she reassured him. "Dad and I got to church every Sunday."

"That's good. Not that holy items will repel the Enshanti, but it's good to have faith in some sort of creator, just to have a divine balance in your life." He leaned back, drinking some coffee. "I can tell that Kent's raising you right."

Her father and Mr. Perkins would probably be less than pleased to know that she was thinking about going to her Enshanti relatives and turning herself over to them, she knew. It was something that she didn't want to share with her father or Mr. Perkins, just like Shina and Guy didn't know about the fact that she wasn't as thrilled about everything about the Enshanti, either.

It seemed like she was keeping an awful lot of secrets lately, and she wasn't sure it was a good thing. Her father was so sure that she'd be saved by Mr. Perkins - apparently not Reverend Perkins, or anything like that, nowadays. Maybe he was a defrocked priest or some kind of former pastor, being removed because of his beliefs.

"It is kind of terrifying," she said, "To learn that I have this kind of blood, this kind of ancestry." To know that she could be a weapon in either set of hands, really.

"I know," Mr. Perkins said. "It's not an easy burden to bear, but you'll learn to bear it. We'll work on getting you out of here, especially since the Enshanti are gone and won't know you've disappeared."

"I'm not the only one in danger," Emery pointed out. "This is a death sentence for Dad, too."

"Hon," her father said tiredly, "I'll survive this. Or not. What I care about is your safety. Mr. Perkins can get you to safety."

"You can become a whole new person," Mr. Perkins said. "Have you ever thought of taking up a vocation? You probably can't pass as a Catholic at the moment, but there are Episcopalian nuns...."

"Do I get to do music?" Emery asked. "I can't live without music. I'd rather be turned over to the Enshanti than be without it."

"But you've got music in your soul, Emery," her father said. "Besides, Law, that's one of the reasons you were thinking of that, right?"

"Yes, I know that you're musically inclined," Mr. Perkins replied. "You might not know me too well, but I've been getting stories about you since you were a baby." He beamed at her. "It's fantastic to see you as an adult. I just wish it had been under far, far better circumstances."

"Yes, the circumstances leave a lot to be desired," Emery agreed. "It's... a very hard time for me. I don't know what to make of anything now."

"You don't have to," Mr. Perkins said. "Just pack, get ready to go. We'll be out of here come morning."

"Or the next day," her father said. "There's one last project we need two sets of hands on, Law, it won't hold without her."

"One last project," Law agreed. He nodded at her father. "I trust your judgment on that, Kent. But we can't hold much longer before the damned Enshanti come to claim your daughter."

"The moment I don't need her hands, I want her out of here," her father said. "I'm not going to risk her soul just for more harps. I just want to get this one last order done."

"Then she and I will get out of here," Mr. Perkins said. "This will give us an extra day to make plans anyway."

"So, what plans *do* we have?" Emery asked.

"We'll leave as soon as your father - Kent - doesn't need you on that last harp, then we head out," Mr. Perkins said. "We'll stop at various and sundry places to throw off the Enshanti from our trail, and then I'll put you with some people who know about the Enshanti and are sympathetic to our cause. They'll help you get used to your new identity, and then you can do what you want - I suggest the Episcopalian nuns. That way, you'll be safe, in isolation."

"And you can still be Emery in there," her father pointed out. "Just... under a different name. You'll have to get used to some strange things, but you're my little girl and I know you can."

Emery nodded, not sure about that, but unwilling to challenge her father or Mr. Perkins. "So, tell me more about the Enshanti, Mr. Perkins," she said, not sure of what else to say. She needed time to think, time she probably wasn't going to get if she didn't distract him.

"The Enshanti. Well, they're energy vampires, live all over the world." Mr. Perkins tapped his chin with his finger. "We get a lot of myths and legends from them. There's some system in Japan built for taking them down - the Japanese branch might not be too religious by my standards, but they do know how to build devices! I've heard they've had their things for decades, the stuff they use to fight the Enshanti."

Emery nodded.

"We fight with faith and sneakiness," Mr. Perkins said. "We're not as good as an Enshanti, and we can't take one down alone, but we do have the confidence that we are in the right here. And we're good at the hit-and-run things. I've got several people coming to Hayfork to try to get rid of a few Elders while they're gathered here for you - this was a really good thing to happen to us, really, the Enshanti stumbling on you. And in the meantime, we'll get you to safety. They won't track you down again, Emery, I promise you and I promise your Dad."

"So, how many of them are there?" Emery asked. "A lot? A little?"

"Couple of thousand, across the world," Mr. Perkins said. "Depends on the area. They might have their problems, but they're very careful about human population sustanability. Of course, they consider humans to be food, so it's kind of more resource management than any love for us. A family only grows if they can manage to be fed on the existing population. A town this size might stand a Enshanti or two, but that's it. Maybe a family with small kids. Not that you want an Enshanti family moving into this town."

"Shina wants to," Emery said. "She likes it here, she likes Hayfork, and she thinks the Enshanti will like it too."

"Kent," Mr. Perkins said, turning to her father, "I'm sorry to do this to your adoptive town. I want to kill the Elders, not bring them down on your town's head."

"Town will never know," her father pointed out. "I'm sure the Enshanti will find the place attractive enough to do it some good. They won't know the evil of their benefactors, though."

"Yeah," Mr. Perkins agreed. "I hate to admit that when they take to a project... well, they take to a project. And I have no doubt they'll revitalize this town... for their own evil purposes."

Her father nodded wearily, sipping at the coffee. "Wasn't your fault, Law. I chose to live in this place, I'm the one that chose this, and if they've found Emery... not much either of us can do about it."

"You tried to protect your daughter," Mr. Perkins pointed out. "You tried to save her. Nothing wrong with that." He looked at Emery. "If you want to pack up, I can get you out of here before they know you've gone. With that necklace on, there's not enough power leaking from you to know you've disappeared. And I think you'll like being an Episcopalian nun."

Emery nodded. "I know that it's a good thing to get out of here, but... what happens if they find out I'm missing? I'm their prize, Mr. Perkins. Why they're here. If they even suspect that I'm gone...."

She hoped that it would buy her some time to figure out what to do. What her father and Mr. Perkins had in mind was probably very good, but she also thought her Enshanti relatives had their valid points. And they were going to do good, from what her father and Mr. Perkins had said. Even the two humans admitted it.

Good and evil. The Enshanti were both. Her father knew it, Mr. Perkins knew it.

"I don't want to put you in danger, Emery," Mr. Perkins said. "It's bad enough that your Kin know that you're here, but I'd not risk you being lost to them. But thank you for the offer. I'm flattered that you want to help. You really are your father's daughter."

"I was raised by a good man," she said. "And it shows." A good man who regretted what he did. A set of relatives that might show mercy if she played it right.

"Yeah, you were," Mr. Perkins said. "But pack anyway. We're going to get you out of here, to someplace safe for you to be."

Emery smiled. "I... thank you. I know that with my blood...."

"Nothing wrong with your blood, Emery," Mr. Perkins said. "You aren't a demon, or something evil. You can't help your blood, and we know that as much as the Enshanti does. Not that hunters in the past have been forgiving of that, but I know that Kent Peters wouldn't have raised a bad girl. So, we'll just start going. I don't want you here when your Elders get here. They tend to cause... problems with things."

"Problems?" Emery asked. "Do I want to know?"

"Dealing with them tends to get a bit... messy," Mr. Perkins said. "It's why I want you out of here. I don't want you caught in the crossfire between us and the Enshanti."

"Some of her relatives might get her out of there anyway," her father pointed out, without much humor. "But I agree. Day after tomorrow, she needs to get out of here."

"Well, if that's settled," Mr. Perkins said, "Thanks for lending me your bedroom, Kent. Whatever I can do to help the two of you, I will."

Her father grinned. "Just make sure my daughter is in good hands, and if needs be, make sure you tie up KentPet okay. Put Roberts on it."

"Yeah, I can do that," Mr. Perkins said. "But I hope it won't come to that."

It wouldn't come to that, Emery thought, because she would make sure the Enshanti spared her father. Maybe it was a good thing this 'war' was going to happen and wipe some of the hunters out. But she didn't want her father to die.

Or KentPet Harps. Was that so selfish?

The man seemed satisfied, for the moment, Mr. Perkins did. Emery wasn't about to let him know that there was anything going on that shouldn't be, and she'd have to act like she wanted to leave, which she didn't. She wasn't stupid, she didn't want the man killing her then and there. "How many - never mind."

"Yeah, no offense," Mr. Perkins said, "But in case things to FUBAR, I don't want you knowing about our forces, Emery. You are still half-Enshanti."

Emery felt a chill pass through her at his words. Her Enshanti relatives seemed to accept her for what she was. Mr. Perkins didn't. Did her Dad?

Of course he did, or at least she hoped so. He seemed to love her, seemed to want her, seemed to not care that she was half energy vampire. Half of a supposedly evil species that may or may not have been so evil. That's why she wanted to save him. To make people like him matter, and people like Mr. Perkins not matter. She had a feeling that her Enshanti heritage was nothing to be afraid of, not when they accepted their crossbreeds like they seemed to do.

"I understand," she said. "I don't want to mess up your operation. There has to be a lot at stake." He was planning on taking out Enshanti elders. There had to be something pretty major going on, if they were as powerful as he seemed to imply.

"There is, and I'm glad you understand," Mr. Perkins said. "So, go off, pack, 'cause it sounds like you've got a busy day tomorrow, and I want to get you out of here crack of dawn the very next day."

She nodded. "I understand. I'm going to go and pack. Dad, need me for anything?"

"Well, since you're going to have some spare time, and Law and I have a lot to discuss... could you go out and down to Bill's Grocery and get our shopping done?" her father asked.

"Sure thing, where's the shopping list?" Emery asked. They had to plan, and so did she. She could borrow Irene's cell phone, call Shina, warn the Elders. She'd use her own, but it really wasn't hers. Or maybe she'd toll call to Shina; the other woman wouldn't mind. There was a pay phone near the grocery store.

"Grocery list's on the fridge," her father said, a nudge in that direction. A mental one, anyway. The grocery list was where it always was, where it made sense to be, where she had always seen it be.

"Right," she said. "Going out, will be back ASAP."

"Eh, don't hurry," her father said. "Place'll still be here when you get back."

"Yes, and I don't want to hear strategy," Emery said. "In fact, I'll cook dinner tonight."

"Oh dear," her father said. "Emery can't cook." He grinned at his words to Mr. Perkins, and Emery grinned back.

"Dad, I haven't burnt anything since the green beans when I was twenty," she said in mock exasperation.

He laughed. "I know, I know. Go, Law and I have a lot to discuss."

"Okay," Emery said. "Have fun. Or not."

She left them discussing things, mentally wondering where the nearest payphone was. Probably the one at the fairgrounds. That would probably be private, too.

Instead of heading down to Bill's Grocery immediately, she parked her car at the fairgrounds parking lot. Nobody ever bothered to chain the place because they always had someone keeping an eye on it. With some of the druggies, this was probably a good thing. She'd read a story the other day about people stealing metal from graves. Graves! It had been some city over in the Bay Area that had a lot of cemeteries for some reason. Coloma, was it? That sounded about right.

Well, Coloma could keep its graves. She had other concerns.

She got up to the payphone at the gate, pulling up the phone's call list. She inserted about a dollar's worth of change into the machine, breathlessly waiting for Shina to pick up the line.

"Hello?" Shina asked, sounding confused.

"Shina, it's Emery," Emery said. "I... have to talk to you, and make it fast. I'm on a pay phone."

"What's going on?" Shina asked. "Let me stop the car, I can turn around and be back to Hayfork. If you're in danger...."

"I'm not," Emery said. "There are hunters here, in Hayfork. Waiting for the Elders to come. They want to kill the Elders. And send me away to some nunnery. I... I...."

"It's okay, Emery," Shina said. "We'll do something. Where are you?"

"County fairgrounds," Emery said. "Shina, it's the Elders that are in danger. I'll be safe."

"Well, the Elders can take care of themselves," Shina said. "Who summoned the hunters? Your father?"

"I don't think so," Emery said, not sure and wanting to protect her father. "Dad made inquiries as he always does when I have a possible boyfriend. They must have run alarms, and the hunters came because they figured something's going on. Dad and Mr. Perkins were talking when I left, I'm not sure why Mr. Perkins is here, it's something about keeping me safe, but...."

"It's okay, Emery, I'm taking the car and heading back now, thank goodness for fully refundable tickets. Can you stay there?"

"No, if I don't get to the grocery store and then home, Dad will wonder," Emery said. "As it is, it's risky. I don't want to tip my hand here - they think I agree with them. Or Mr. Perkins does."

"This is not looking good for either of the hunters in your house," Shina said. "You know, for a hunter, your father seemed to have sense, but I have to wonder."

"I think he's lost temporary leave of his senses," Emery said. "Please don't judge him for this. He's genuinely remorseful for mom's death, but he's under some bad influences."

"I'd say so," Shina said grimly. "I'll have to make some calls. How do I get in touch with you?"

"You can't," Emery told her. "I don't want your number appearing on the emergency cellphone that I called you from the other day, and I don't want the house phone waking somebody up."

"Right," Shina said. "I'll find some way to get you out of there, Emery, I promise. If Guy and I have to do a jailbreak, then we'll do a jailbreak."

"Just get the message to the Elders so that they're safe," Emery urged. "I'll be okay. And... I should go. You're long distance and this is a payphone. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

With that, she hung up the payphone. After a moment, she heard it ring. She picked it up. "Hello?"

"Emery, thank goodness you didn't leave," Shina said. "Look, we'll get you out of there. We'll even get your *Dad* out of there. When are you leaving again?"

"Day after tomorrow. Mr. Perkins isn't happy about it, but we've got a concert harp that *must* be done," Emery said. "Just... as I said, don't worry about me. Worry about the hunters."

"Oh, we'll take care of them," Shina said. "Don't worry, Emery. Don't give up hope."

"I won't," Emery promised.

"We'll be back for you soon," Shina told her. "But I'd better let you go. Be safe."

"Will do." With that, she hung up the phone. She got back in the truck and headed for the grocery store, taking her time in shopping.

"Hey, Emery," Andrea, Bill's wife, said as she stocked the shelves. "Thank you for bringing that lady in. I think this community's had more hope than it's had in a long, long time."

"You're welcome," Emery said. "I think she'll do good for us."

"I know she'll do good for us, I have faith," her friend said. "She was a really nice lady. What do you think she'll do?"

"Dunno," Emery admitted, "But I know she'll do all she can. I found out recently that she and I might be remotely related."

"Wow!" Andrea's eyes widened. "That's great. I hope you two get along for a long time."

"Yeah," Emery said, smiling at Andrea as if nothing was wrong. "Aren't family connections great?"

"Family connections are so great. Is she a cousin or something?"

"Yeah, a distant one," Emery admitted. "I'm not sure to what degree... she's related to me on Mom's side of the family, that's all I know."

"Hey, if you did up any more relatives that know people, let me know," Andrea said. "Because we so desperately need them out here."

"You got it," Emery promised. "I think that my relatives will bring lots and lots of good things to our town."

And her Enshanti relatives *would* do good things for her town, she knew. But the worry currently with her was that the hunters and the Elders might inflict more damage on the town than the town could manage. She had no idea how the hunters hunted or how successful they were with their Enshanti "prey", but she didn't want to lose people in her town.

Not much else she could do but keep out of the way. Keep people away from the battle between human and Enshanti, between hunters and hunters. And hope that the Enshanti Elders would spare her father in the end.

"Hey, gotta go," she said. "You take care, you hear?" She might not see Andrea or Irene or anybody else in Hayfork for a while if the hunters got her out of there. She hoped that the Enshanti wouldn't mind keeping her in Hayfork.

She hoped Shina was relaying her message. That the Elders of the Enshanti would know what was going on and what might happen if they weren't careful. She didn't know if Mr. Perkins' hunters could stop them, but she didn't want to find out the hard way.

Emery loaded the groceries into the small area behind the seats of the cab. She wondered if her father would live long enough to finish out the food in here and in the pantry. She wondered if she would be there long enough to finish out the food in the pantry, for that matter.

She drove back home, where her father and Mr. Perkins were still discussing things. "Law," her father was saying, "The best site for a battle would be in the remote areas. Don't need property damage if we can avoid it. There's a large amount of abandoned homes on Lewis way; they're just decaying, would provide good cover if we can lure the Enshanti in."

"The trick is luring them folks in," Mr. Perkins said. He looked up, and Emery waved at him. "Look, we'll discuss this later, someplace else."

"Right," her father said. "Thanks for the groceries, Emery. Downtown still standing?"

She grinned. "Downtown is still the same downtown. Don't worry, Dad."

"Good," her father said. "We'll try to keep it that way." He threw a meaningful look at Mr. Perkins, who scowled. "Go, work on some of our outstanding orders. Mr. Perkins and I still have things to discuss."

"No problem, Dad, as I said, I don't want to know." Actually, she did want to know, but given that she had no way of relaying the information to Shina and the Elders would probably figure things out anyway, she didn't push it. "I'm heading to the work room. Yell if you need anything."

"Will do," her father said. "I'll get you when it's time to go make dinner."

She smiled. Behind her, she heard Mr. Perkins saying, "We have to be careful, Kent. I know your daughter's probably very trustworthy, but she is Enshanti. Who knows what spells might have been woven on her that we don't know? We'll have a spellcaster in the area, but still, I don't want to put us in danger."

"She won't," her father said confidently.

"Your daughter wouldn't know an enchantment from a hole in the ground," Mr. Perkins argued. "And there might be latent spells on her. I don't trust that woman to have put on spells I couldn't eradicate, and neither could anybody else. Plus, she was alone with Enshanti for a while - that makes her a risk."

"Law-"

"You know I'm right," Mr. Perkins said, his voice pressing forward, even though Emery couldn't see anything. "You know what the Enshanti are capable of. You know the danger here. Emery has to be kept out of the darkness, or she has to be destroyed. And I know that'll break your heart, Kent, but it will have to be done if it has to be done."

Her father sighed. "I know, but Emery's my baby, you know."

"I understand," Mr. Perkins said, "But the others won't." His voice became more soothing. "It has to be done, for the good of humankind. I won't like it - hell, I helped rescue Emery from that monster - but I'll do it if I have to. And I'll stop anybody in my way."

"I know," her father said, sounding tired. "But I don't want you to kill her, and I don't want to provoke her into her Enshanti powers."

"Can't do that if she doesn't have the necklace off," Mr. Perkins said confidently. "And she'll be a good girl and keep it on. Because you raised her right. And if she has to be led to the slaughter, then she'll be led to the slaughter. It'll save her, you know. Save her from the darkness that overshadows her heart."

"I just hope you're right," her father said. "I...."

"You're a good man, Kent. I can depend on you, right?" Mr. Perkins asked.

"Yes," her father said without hesitation. "You can depend on me. I just hope it doesn't come to Emery's death."

"I'll do my best to have that be the last resort," Mr. Perkins promised. "I know she means a lot to you. And her living would mean a great deal to me. Because we saved a girl from darkness."

"So, you leaving early the day after tomorrow?" her father asked.

"Early as possible," Mr. Perkins said. "Can't tempt fate."

"Nope," her father agreed.

As the conversation trailed off, Emery quietly let herself out of the house. She'd have to get in contact with Shina or Guy somehow, because she wasn't going to be killed, and she wasn't going to let her father be killed.

Emery worked on harps, carefully making sure the harps would be ready, or at least close to ready. She didn't know how the whole thing was going to play out, and KentPet still had harps to ship out. She'd set three by the time her father came to bring her to dinner.

The dinner was potatoes and green beans. Not exactly a full meal, but edible. She smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

"Not a problem, Emery." He looked at Mr. Perkins. "Law? Want to say grace?"

Mr. Perkins nodded. "Sounds good to me, Kent." He folded his hands together, and closed his eyes. "May the Lord bless this food with the grace he provides, so that we may be full of grace too. Amen."

"Amen," her father said, and she echoed it. It was a simple prayer, but a powerful one.

"So, harps look good?" her father asked.

"Yeah," she said. "I'll miss making them." She would, unless the Enshanti won and got her the hell out of there.

"It's for your own good," Mr. Perkins said, laying a hand on hers. "I know it feels awful right now, but you'll be saved from that world, and we'll take care of the Enshanti for you."

Emery nodded. "I'm going to go to bed after dinner; it's going to be a long day ahead of all of us." She wanted to stick around, but she also wanted to make Mr. Perkins comfortable.

"It will be," Mr. Perkins agreed. "I'm glad you understand, dear. This is very very important to everybody, what happens here, and I can't put Kent's daughter at risk."

But, apparently, he could kill her if she didn't placidly agree to get the hell out of Hayfork. So, she'd just make it seem like she wanted to get out of Hayfork. She hoped, almost, that he'd have a particularly gruesome death. He did seem to be biting off more than he could chew with the Elders of the Enshanti.

"Yes," her father said. "It'll all be good." But he sounded tired. Emery had to wonder what the two men had discussed while she was out with the harps and the grocery shopping and everything.

"Right," she said. "It's for the good of humanity."

"It really is," Mr. Perkins said. "It really, really is. We'll kill some monsters and you'll be safe from the remaining ones."

Emery had no doubt that the Enshanti probably considered Perkins and the rest of the hunters to be monsters, and would consider saving Emery important too. And maybe her Dad as well. But there wasn't much she could do except keep moving, keep sneaking, and hope that someone would plan around the hunters and kill them.

Because Emery was not leaving Hayfork. Emery was not leaving her father. And Emery would not let her father get killed.

KentPet would survive. Hayfork would survive. California would survive. The whole world would survive.

"Thank you," she said, before digging into the potatoes. It didn't matter that it was one of those potato-flake mixes with butter and the green beans. The important thing was that she was there, it was food, and she was fooling Mr. Perkins.

The dinner was good, despite everything. "I'll be all packed," she said. "I'm looking forward to the nunnery. Do you think that we could donate a harp to them, Dad?"

Her father raised his eyebrows. "Why not?" he asked. "It's not like it would be unlike any other order, eh, Law?"

"Just be careful," Mr. Perkins warned. "Just in case." He looked at Emery. "We don't want them finding you, Emery. I realize that to be without music is something that you and your Dad just can't live with, but we don't want them finding you?"

"You're going to get rid of them, right?" she asked mildly. "Why should I have to worry?"

"She's got a point, Law," her father said. "You're going to make the world safe for my little girl to be what she wants to be."

"I'm sorry if I overheard too much," Emery said, "But I'm hoping that if you get rid of the Elders, that would throw them into disarray, and then you can pick them off, right?" She personally hoped it would be the other way around, even if Mr. Perkins had helped her father save her when she was a baby.

Mr. Perkins raised his eyebrows. "You have a good point there, Emery. But of course, your parents were both cunning folk."

Her father cleared his throat. "I'm not dead yet, Law," he said in amusement.

"Sorry about that, Kent," Mr. Perkins said. "Emery's mother certainly was cunning, wasn't she? And you're smart. Your daughter's smart too."

"Very smart," her father said. "And I thank you for helping her away from those monsters. I'm very proud of her."

"It was nothing," Mr. Perkins said. "I'm a man of my word." He looked over at Emery. "Your mother faked being human in order to get her hands on your father, Emery. That's the kind of life we saved you from."

"I know," Emery said. "You and Dad... you saved me. From that life. I mean. I... I kind of hoped I'd never knew. I guess. I mean, I kind of hoped now that I wouldn't ever have known about this whole thing."

"So do I, Emery," Mr. Perkins said. "I'm sorry you had to know about this whole thing. It makes life so much easier in some ways when you didn't know about what you were."

"Well, thanks to this necklace, I can be very human." She frowned. "But... the nunnery... would I be able to continue wearing it?"

"Don't worry, Emery," Mr. Perkins said. "The woman who runs the place knows of the Enshanti and their special abilities. She knows what you are and why you're wearing that necklace. Trust me, we'll all keep you safe from being Enshanti, and you will keep that necklace on."

Emery doubted that her Enshanti family wanted her to keep it on, but maybe it wasn't a bad idea anyway. She nodded, seeming to agree with his words. "Good."

"Emery will be a good nun, I'm sure of it," her father said. "I just... didn't want to lose her, not like this. Not like this."

"It's all right, Dad," Emery said. "I'm sure I'll be in good hands with Mr. Perkins or whoever's taking me down. We'll just get that last harp done, and that's it." And then she and her Dad would be rescued from the dastardly Hunters that threatened Hayfork, and everything would be all right. "Mr. Perkins, can your people handle the Enshanti? I admit, I don't know much about them, but...."

Mr. Perkins smiled. "Don't worry about that, Emery. It's better that you don't know much about your family... it's not like you could detect them."

"They can detect me, if I touch them apparently," Emery said. "I don't want to get into trouble."

"I'll ask to make sure you can wear gloves," Mr. Perkins said. "If that's what caused the problem...."

"That's exactly what caused the problem, Mr. Perkins," Emery said. She looked over at him, hopefully looking pleadingly at him. "I touched Mr. Sumners, and that's how he knew, apparently, that I was Enshanti. Half, anyway. And now we can't get rid of him."

"And he's on his way back to Flagstaff," her father pointed out. "If not there."

"Well, he we can take care of later," Mr. Perkins said dismissively. "You're right, Emery, taking out the toughest and then going after the weaker ones is a good idea. It gives us something to hope for."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance." She finished her meal. "Dad, do you want me to do the dishes?"

Her father shook his head. "Nah, I'll do that, you make sure you're packed. We've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Got it, Dad," she said, nodding. "Thanks for dinner. Mr. Perkins, please be safe."

"I'll be careful, I promise," Mr. Perkins said.

She nodded, hoping that her kin would give him a lengthy, bloody death, and got up. She got to her room and started sorting through her clothes. What would be good for a nunnery? Probably not much. Best to just pack for light travel. She wondered if her father would let her leave with one of the small lever harps. He probably would. Assuming it came to that, of course, and her Enshanti kinfolk didn't get her out of there, or made Hayfork safe from the hunters.

It was strange to be cheering for the monsters, but they seemed to want her more than Mr. Perkins did.

So, she packed one of her favorite shirts, her favorite blouses, a light skirt that she could bear to give away, a pair of jeans that were getting a slight bit overwashed, and some good-but-not-new shoes. She'd wear her comfies on the leaving day, if she had to leave.

The whole thing seemed surreal. She wondered what her Enshanti kinfolks' plan was to keep themselves safe from hunters. She hoped that the Elders would work on eliminating the hunters first and worry about her after. She didn't want herself or her father hurt.

She wondered if Shina and Guy would organize their "jailbreak" for her, or if they'd follow her instructions and just warn the Elders about the threat of the hunters. It wasn't like they knew where in the house her bedroom was. And Mr. Perkins would, at the very least, try to kill her Enshanti kin if they weren't careful.

Emery zipped up the suitcase after packing a third outfit - a dress, just in case - and put it to one side. She hoped she wouldn't be living out of the suitcase very long, if at all. She pulled out the emergency cellphone and wrote Shina's cellphone number on the back of the tag of the one t-shirt, just in case she was pulled out of Hayfork before her Enshanti relatives could take down the Hunters.

The writing on the t-shirt tag done, she erased Shina's cellphone number from the phone. She hoped that she would remember it later. Shina's cellphone number had to be from the Arizona, well the Phoenix area. Or Flagstaff. Had Shina ever mentioned where she lived? Emery thought so.

In any case, at least she had it. She had Shina's number in an inconspicuous place. Now all she had to do was get out of there, or get rescued. She felt like a princess. "A princess," she muttered out loud. A princess in distress, one that needed rescuing from both sides. The hunters wanted to take her out of there. Her Enshanti relatives wanted to keep her safe. She just wanted, really, to be Emery again.

In any case, there wasn't much she could do.

She dressed herself for bed, then took out one of her spare nightgowns. She unzipped the suitcase, making sure she remembered underwear, bras, and socks, as well as the nightgown. She blushed a little about always forgetting those things. Every time she left Hayfork, she forgot something.

Once she was sure that she'd packed everything she needed, she made her way to bed. Falling asleep quickly, she fell into the land of dreams.

"Emery? My Lathey?" A woman was sitting next to a fountain in what seemed to be a park. No, it was surrounded by buildings. A campus, like they had at Redding? She was sure she'd never seen it before.

"Where am I?" she asked. The woman smiled.

"Lathey, this is Boston College," the woman said. "This is where I would have wanted you to go to college if you'd grown up with me."

"Boston... College?" She looked around. "Boston?"

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the woman said. "I dreamed so much of you going here. Even when you were a baby. Our family contributes, you see."

"Who are you?" Emery asked. "Why am I here?"

"I am your mother, Lathey," the woman said. She was beautiful. "You're dreaming this, you're dreaming me, but before I died, I put some of my essence into you. Some of who I am. But you didn't unlock it until now. What you are seeing is my hopes and dreams."

"But my mother wouldn't know she was dead in a dream," Emery objected.

"Some of this is you, Lathey." Her mother smiled. "Yes, you are Lathey, no matter what human name you have. I thought it was a nice, beautiful, concise name. It means 'almond tree' in our language." She smiled. "I should have given you a poetic name like the Japanese Enshanti do, but I didn't."

"Mom," Emery said, "Who are you? Who am I?"

"You're Lathey," her mother said. "If I'd given you a poetic name, you would have been 'The almond tree dips its head in winter'. I debated giving that as your name, but the family urged me to stick to just 'almond tree'. It's such a beautiful name anyway, so I didn't care."

"Almond tree." She thought about that for a moment, and then returned to her mother. "What did you dream for me, mother?"

"I wanted you to be a musician like myself and your father. Your father was delightful, a man who understood music. I fell in love with him because of the beauty of his soul. Despite what he thinks, I never wanted to drain him. To drain him would have been a crime against life and music. Your father was a beautiful man, Lathey, and I wanted him to live far longer. Since he couldn't do that, I decided to sleep with him, so that his beauty would carry on another way. With his child. With you."

"You loved my Dad," Emery said. "But he was a hunter."

Her mother looked sadly at her. "Yes. I didn't learn that until it was too late, but your father was a hunter. That's why I ran and hid - I would have married him if I'd had a chance, but his mind was corrupted by that man."

"Mr. Perkins, you mean?" Emery asked.

Her mother nodded, her face wrinkled up in deep disgust. "Your father's sound was pure, Lathey. He was magic, too. He had Enshanti ancestors - some crossbreed back there that fathered or birthed a child before testing, it happens. One of your great-great grandparents was Enshanti, on his side. He never knew, but I traced his blood. I was hoping that once he knew what he truly was as well, that we'd settle into a happy marriage, and you would grow up with both parents. But when I knew that he knew what I was, and that he thought us dangerous... well, I hid myself, and you. Some of my relatives know of his true bloodline - we can reclaim him too, before it's too late."

"But Dad doesn't seem to have too much Enshanti blood," Emery pointed out.

"No, but he has enough to make him family," her mother said firmly. "Family corrupted and perverted. When I was with him, I laid spells on him to protect him. Apparently they were stripped away from him by the hunters. You need to tell your family that they need to be put on again."

Emery nodded. "If I can get to talk to them," she pointed out. "I have no cellphone I dare use."

Her mother laughed. "I remember car phones, when I was alive. We didn't have those things when you were born, Lathey. Aren't human inventions wonderful?"

"Yes," Emery said, thinking of Guy and his total lack of navigational skills. "Enshanti with no navigational genes are discovering the joys of turn-by-turn computer guidance."

"Yes, human inventions are a wonderful thing," her mother said, musing. "That's what I liked about your father. I'm glad that he's got something he loves - well, besides you, of course. He's very very special to me, and I regret what he did. Had I been able, I would have escaped, and saved both of you from this fate. Your father needed to be brought back into the family anyway."

"If he could have," Emery told her. "He... well...."

"He believes he's trapped," her mother said. "I don't blame him. But we can save him, Lathey. We can make him whole again. We can make him the family member he was meant to be."

"If nobody kills him first," Emery said. "If I can warn someone...."

"Your family is not stupid, Emery, and some of them have to be aware of your father's heritage." Her mother held her hand out to the water, and collected a handful of water. "They will try to save him first." She rubbed her hands together. "The darkest night comes before the dawn, Lathey, I'm sure you've heard that expression before."

"I have." Emery thought about that. "You can see the stars out here in Hayfork. You can see dark become dawn."

Her mother smiled. "Perhaps, then, this town is the best place to save the family from the hunters." She gazed at the tall building to her left. "Perhaps this town, this town that your father chose, will ultimately save him. He can be awakened too."

"I don't think Dad wants that," Emery said, frowning. "He's too weak; he'd never pass the test."

"There are exceptions," her mother said. "And the test's results aren't the only ones that can be applied. There are ways of making your father more Enshanti that don't involve the Tests."

"Then... the Tests?" Emery asked, confused.

"They're to test children who are in their teens to see what power level they're at, and if needs be, boost their power. Sometimes the methods to boost their power are... less than pleasant, but those that do take to rural lands. Feed off animals if needed."

"They become monsters," Emery realized.

"They are *not* monsters, Lathey," her mother said sharply. "True, the magic gives them grotesque shapes, but they can shapechange better than we human-forms can do. They *can* pass among humans, at least for a while. They have powers that we don't." Her voice softened. "I had several friends who didn't pass the tests. They're perfectly happy with what they are, little one. In some ways, they're now more powerful than I am - was. Sometimes those of use with higher powers forget how powerful the rituals make these beings." She grinned. "Never come into a fight with a beast-form Enshanti, I guarantee you will lose, Lathey."

"Mom, would beast-form Enshanti come into town?" Emery asked, worried.

"Well, of course," her mother said. "Their bodies are tougher than ours. With the powers that you had at birth, little one, you probably would be beast-form had you been raised by me - but something in this dream tells me that you would have passed the tests. It's a shame; I'd have liked you to have the extra armor beast-form gives. It would have been painful, but oh so worth it."

Emery nodded. "I haven't even taken the Test," she pointed out.

Her mother laughed. "You soon will, little one. And then I'm sure the others will take yourself and your father to a safe place."

"I hope so," she said.

Before she had time to ask her mother any more questions, she was shaken awake. "Emery? Emery? It's Shina. Shh!"

"Shina?" Emery whispered, and then flicked her bedside light on.

"I came to rescue you," Shina said. "Guy is with us, in spirit. But I need to get you out of here!"

"We'll get her out of here," a second voice said. A woman - vaguely resembling her mother - came into the room. "So, this is my grandchild," she said. "Well, little one, it's time to get you to safety."

"Safety. Right." Emery stared at the woman, who looked like she might be in her forties. "Get me out of here, please." She looked around. "Where's Dad?"

"Off with that other hunter," her grandmother said. "Are these yours?"

Emery nodded. "Yes, they're mine."

"Good, we'll get you to safety," her grandmother told her. "Are you ready to go?"

"I've been ready to go since Mr. Perkins showed up," Emery said. "I think Dad and Mr. Perkins went off so I wouldn't overhear any plans."

"Damned paranoid hunters," her grandmother muttered. She brushed her hair back behind her ear. "Well, it worked to our advantage, apparently. Get into something decent while we guard."

Emery nodded, hurrying out of her nightgown and into a comfortable shirt and jeans, shrugging into a jacket. "I'm ready."

"Then, let's go," her grandmother said grimly. "Before they know what hit them."

"I hope you didn't smash the door down," Emery said. She hoped they didn't. That would be an enormous clue.

"I can pick locks perfectly well," her grandmother groused. "It's very simple."

"You should have seen her," Shina confided. "She's so amazing with mechanical things."

"Grandfather's the musician?" Emery asked. He had to be, if her grandmother tinkered with things.

"I play the organ," her grandmother said, arching her eyebrows. "Your grandfather prefers odd instruments. Your mother preferred the harp, as did your father. And as do you, apparently."

"The harp is my life," Emery said. "I don't know what I could do without one."

"Yep, she's family," Shira said happily. "So, Em, what do we need to do?"

"Um," Emery said. "Could we make it look like I've been kidnapped? Because they think I'm cooperating with them. It was easier, I thought, to pretend to be that way."

"Oh, so that's why you wanted it to seem like I had broken down the door," her grandmother said. "I'll just smash the... wait, you weren't locked in."

"Dad can afford a locksmith," Emery said. "We just have to look like I put up a bit of a struggle." She felt very clever. Her father and Mr. Perkins would think she had been kidnapped for sure.

"Right," her grandmother said. She began to chant something, which didn't make Emery's room any untidier. Emery looked at her in confusion. "I just fried any equipment - any monitoring equipment, at the very least - that was placed in this room. Next, we can unmake the bed."

The three of them did so, and then rushed out the door. Emery cast a look at the workshop longingly, wishing she could take one of the small harps with her.

"Don't worry, Emery," Shina said. "Your harps will still be here for you, when we're done with the Hunters."

"And your father, much as I'd like...." Her grandmother sighed. "He is of our blood. We need to protect him as well, no matter what harm he did."

"Mom told me. In a dream." Emery said, acknowledging that point. "Dad is family."

"Yes, unfortunately," her grandmother said. "Pigheaded, misused, but still our family."

"Misused mostly, it sounds like," Emery said. "I think Dad means well, but...."

"Okay, Lathey," her grandmother said, "I'm going to break that lock and close the door. Pretend to struggle, okay?"

"Right," Emery said, after taking a few seconds to realize they were talking about her. "Pretend to struggle. Pretend to struggle. Pretend to struggle."

"Stop muttering and start struggling," Shina hissed. "Otherwise it won't be realistic."

"Right. Pretend to struggle. Pretend to struggle." She started struggling, hoping that it looked realistic. Because she'd never been in that kind of position before, she wasn't sure on how to make it seem real.

"Good, Em," Shina said. "Keep doing it, keep doing it. I'm going to pick you up and stuff you in the backseat, okay?"

"Right," Emery said. "Keep going, keep going...."

Without warning, Shina stuffed her in the back seat and climbed in beside her, while Emery's grandmother came into the car - well, SUV - with much grace. She started up the SUV and drove out of there.

"But the gate," Emery said. They never left their gate like that.

"We're kidnapping you, Lathey," her grandmother said. "It's supposed to look like that."

"If you say so," Emery said doubtfully. "I guess...." Maybe it was a good thing to leave their gate like that. She could imagine her father seeing the gate open, rushing to find the broken door, the struggle... he and Mr. Perkins figuring that she'd been kidnapped and vowing their revenge... it was good that her grandmother had broken whatever surveillance devices that Mr. Perkins had put in, or she'd be in big trouble. At least at the moment, they'd assume she'd been kidnapped, which was the whole idea. Of course, how long they'd take to figure out that she hadn't been kidnapped was a good question. She wondered how smart Mr. Perkins was and how long it would take him to figure it out.

Her father might, if he figured it out, let things slide. She was his daughter, after all, and he might be willing to let her make up her own mind regarding her destiny. If he figured it out. If he didn't... then he was in trouble, because her family would try not to kill him, but....

"If only the idiot had listened to your mother," Emery's grandmother muttered as she drove the car. "Your mother tried to talk sense into the boy, but he still killed her. If only we had found him earlier, saved him... at least we can save you."

"I think you can save my father, too," Emery said. "If he knew... I don't think he would have been this way. He's open minded. Most of the time. Well, sometimes. I think."

Shina hugged her. "It's okay, Em. We'll make sure you're both safe."

Emery nodded. "I know." She watched as they went down the road, and then drove around for a bit before settling next to a remote cabin.

"This is out of the way," her grandmother said, stopping the car. "Here, you'll be safe for the day, and we'll get you out of here after we get your father to a safe place. Preferably here. I've talked to the other Elders; we've all agreed that the fool needs to be rescued."

"You might have to kidnap him," Emery pointed out. "He's sorry, but he's still under the influence of Mr. Perkins."

"He won't be under the influence for long," her grandmother growled. "I'll make sure of that, and make sure those hunters pay for hurting our blood and twisting it. You and your father deserve long, happy lives, and those idiots are not going to allow that."

"Why are there hunters?" Emery asked. "Because you hunt humans?"

"I'll tell you after we all move to the cabin," her grandmother said. "I want to make sure you're safe, Lathey. I didn't come this far to lose you to the humans."

Emery nodded. It made sense, so she slid out the side of the back seat onto the dust and dirt. Letting her grandmother lead, she gazed upon the cabin; it had been abandoned, but someone had done at least some work on it; she had to guess that it was one of the cabins abandoned when the lumber mills had shut down.

"This is a tragic town," her grandmother said once they got inside. "I've seen many like this, and it's always sad. So much abandonment." She blew a cobweb away from a window. "If nothing else, we will do something to make this town better."

"See, Em, everybody wants to help Hayfork," Shina said, smiling as Emery's grandmother lit lights. "We feel responsible for this place; we want to make it well."

"I want to set up electicity to this place," her grandmother muttered. "Shina, did you include housing and rehabilitating cabins in your plan?"

"Yes, ma'am, I did," Shina said. "I did take a big tour of Hayfork, including the bad places."

"At least there are enough drug addicts in this place to keep us fed while we're fighting the hunters," her grandmother mused. "In war, we have to eat more than we normally do; but we try not to hurt the community we're in. Lathey, this is the first lesson you learn as an Enshanti. You do not harm your community. You help your community. Whether it's by feeding on those that harm it or by helping it out by volunteer work or money, you help it. This is what keeps us alive, a healthy community. If you are staying here, we have to fix this town. Someday, you might be fixing up a town on your own."

Emery looked at the cabin: dust-filled, sleeping bags on some kind of fold-out beds in the center of the room. There was grass growing up between the floorboards. "Do we sleep?"

"Sometimes," her grandmother said. "Actually, more often if we want to conserve energy. Which we need to now, with this skirmish with the hunters going on."

"I'm staying up and standing guard," Shina said. "Your grandmother needs the sleep, and you do too, Em. So, don't protest."

"I'm going to cast a warding shield," her grandmother said. "I can afford the energy; I had my eye on a couple of those drug users. You have quite the population." She appeared to think for a moment, and added, "Redding seems to be a good place for finding those drug users too."

Shina smiled. "In any case, we disturbed your sleep, so you should go to bed."

"I agree," Emery's grandmother said. "You are still mostly human. You need your sleep." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "But please give your necklace to me."

"Necklace? Oh." Emery remembered the necklace she was wearing suddenly. She tried to take it off, but it wouldn't budge. "Ow!" she proclaimed, as it seemed to bite her.

"Ah," her grandmother said, examining it without touching it. "Clever humans. Very clever. Now that you're in the presence of us, it won't come off. Clever, clever humans." She tapped her chin. "I'm not familiar with that magic, but another Elder is. We'll negate that necklace as soon as possible, Lathey. You won't have to suffer with it on for much longer."

Emery smiled, and then sucked on her finger. "I hope not."

"It's a shame, hiding a child's power just because you're afraid of it," her grandmother said, shaking her head. "It's a really big shame. But some humans are like that - not seeing the forest for the trees and all that."

"Just as long as you save Dad," Emery said, "Because he's worth saving."

"Well, of course he's worth saving," her grandmother said. "I've told you this before."

"Let me bandage that finger," Shina said, producing a pack of band-aids. "Remember when these came in the little metal boxes?"

Emery laughed. "Yes, I do," she said. "When I was a kid, they came that way. I miss them."

"I loved those metal tins," Shina said. "So, so useful. My own daughter got to wear plenty of them."

Trying to visualize Shina and a child, Emery couldn't help but stare. "You've got kids?"

"Yes," Shina said. "My oldest's about your age - a boy - and my daughter's ten years younger. We're not fertile folks, but pregnancies happen."

"That sounds so sweet," Emery said. "How are they doing?"

"Well, my son is a beast-form," Shina said. "He loves it. He's a Ranger down at Yosemite National Park. Communes with nature a lot. I'll have you meet him sometime - I'm sure your father and the other hunter filled you with nonsense regarding them. And my daughter is a schoolteacher over in Los Angeles. Inner-city. Lots of food, fortunately or unfortunately." She sighed. "It's funny. Here I am, doing what I do, and my kids are both in California, being things I'd never dream of being."

"I've never had kids myself," Emery confessed.

"Well, of course you wouldn't," Shina said. "You're too young to get married. You should wait until you're at least sixty. If you can't wait that long, you shouldn't have kids before you're sixty, at least. Emery, you're so young by our standards, you getting pregnant... it would be like a teenage pregnancy to us."

"Me? A teenage pregnancy?" Emery asked. "*Me*?" She tried to imagine herself as a pregnant teen and utterly failed. "Me?"

"Well, maybe not to you," her cousin said, "But to us you're so young, it would be *like* having a teenage pregnancy. There's no need to hurry things, Emery. You've got so much to learn and you've got to Test and everything, you'll have no time to get pregnant."

"How old was Mom when she had me?" Emery asked. She wanted to know, now that they were saying that Emery was young.

"About 90, I think," Shina said. "Right?" Her brow furrowed and she looked at Emery's grandmother.

"That would be about right," Emery's grandmother said. "90 is a good age to start having children. Thirty is much, much too young to be doing it, Lathey."

"Yeah," Shina agreed. "You are very young, Shina. Older than you should be at thirty, but still young by our standards. By not finding you, you might have lost a couple of decades off your lifespan." She sighed. "If only we could have saved you much earlier."

"If wishes were horses, then we all could fly," Emery's grandmother said. "I'm just happy we found Lathey, period."

"And next, we *will* get that necklace off of you, I promise. Em, there's no way we'd leave you behind, trapped and powerless like this."

"I wouldn't even know how to use my powers," Emery said. "I really don't know much of anything about the Enshanti, other than what Shina and my Dad told me."

"You've been in a pretty bad situation," her grandmother acknowledged. "But don't worry. We're here." She smiled gently. "And you should go back to sleep, little one. Conserve your energy."

"You should go to bed as well, Elder," Shina pointed out. "You have a battle to fight soon."

"So I do," Emery's grandmother said with the same gentle smile. "So I do. For my family. My son-in-law and my granddaughter."

"My parents... married?" Emery asked. "But... Dad said...."

"Your father is of our blood, and your mother considered him so, therefore he's my son-in-law. A very undeserving one, but still my son-in-law and I shall not abandon him to these monsters who have warped his brain." Her grandmother's voice was tight. "I will not lose another of my kin to blindness and stupidity!"

"Grandma...." Emery said.

"Go to bed, Lathey," her grandmother said firmly. "We will all get out of this. I know we will. We have to."

"All right," Emery said reluctantly. "I feel like I'm about six."

"Ten," her grandmother said. "No, twelve. Our definition of teenager is a bit... strange, I admit."

"Well, fifteen, at least," Shina teased. "Teen years for Enshanti last until you're forty-five. Enshanti are teens for a long, long time. You're still a child by our standards, Em. Get used to it."

Emery sighed dramatically. "I suppose I'll get used to being half my age - no, more than half my age - again." She thought of how often she'd been mistaken for a younger person. "I must age a bit slowly anyway."

"By human standards, you probably do," Shina said. "But to us, you should be even younger. So get your fifteen-year-old rear end into bed so us adults can make sure you're safe."

"Yes, mom," Emery muttered, before slipping into one of the sleeping bags. She saw her grandmother slip into another, while Shina took the lantern and sat down near the window.

But she didn't remember much more, as she was soon asleep. She woke up the next morning with no more dreams, at least none that she could remember. It was amazing, she thought, that she could manage so much sleep with so little to remember of it. When she woke up, Shina had made food over the fire. "I enjoy camping," Shina said. "Here, trail food. Scrambled eggs with bacon. Sorry about the no pancakes."

"I had no idea trail food was like that," Emery said, digging into her breakfast. "Trail food?"

"Well, camping food," Shina admitted. "Trail food is energy bars and other things to keep you going. But once you're in camp, you can do a cooking stove and make treats like this. The eggs are actually powdered, isn't it amazing? I packed the frying pan and other camp gear and had someone bring it."

"Wow," Emery said. "It's just amazing what's available out there." She ate the eggs. They definitely weren't bad.

"Yeah, I love the stuff too," Shina told her. "I take it you don't do a lot of camping? Wilderness survival? You don't own a cell phone, after all."

"Well, kinda, we learn a bit about what to do when we get lost," Emery admitted. "We *are* in the middle of a national forest, after all. It's just... I didn't know people could have all the comforts of home... I mean, beds, sort of? Frying pans? Stoves? Eggs and bacon for breakfast?"

Shina laughed at that. "Yes, it's amazing, these modern innovations," she said. "It makes camping quite comfortable. When we're done fighting these insane, bigoted humans, I'll take you camping."

"I'll hold you to that promise," Emery said. "In the mean time, you guys do have to fight them off."

"Which we will do," her grandmother said, getting up. "But the first thing we do is get you and your father out of there. I put a ward on the house; there's a spellcaster who's dismissed it. I expect it was your guest."

"He did mention removing some spells off of me when I was little. Rituals. Things like that."

"That idiot didn't know what he was doing," her grandmother hissed. "But at least you're safe. We can redo some of your protections, don't worry about that."

"I'm not," Emery assured her. "Dad needs those protections too."

"I can see we're going to have to kidnap the idiot too," her grandmother said. "Much as I'd like him to die. Stupid idiot."

Shina smiled. "But it's so much better to redeem him back to our side," she pointed out. "He is one of ours, no matter how diluted his blood, and we have to respect that. What he does out of ignorance he'll have to learn to live with."

"Yes," Emery's grandma said. "He'll learn. If maybe too late."

The two girls nodded. "Shina, you and Lathey of course will remain here. I have a feeling that Lathey's father is going to be rescued in the course of battle, and I don't want Lathey in the crossfire."

"Right," Shina said. "Emery, you and I can go figure out what to do with Hayfork while the Elders and others come here and defeat the Hunters."

"And Guy?" Emery asked. "Is he... is he okay?"

"He's coming to fight," Shina said. "I don't think he realized how young you are, Emery, unless he wants a teenage bride he'd better wait for a while."

"Dad wasn't that old when Mom met him," Emery pointed out. "He can't have been older than twenty or twenty-five."

"Well, with humans, it's different," Shina said. "It's like dating someone with a terminal disease that makes them age fast. You treasure every moment... in fact, some marriages have been with human teenagers." She looked out the window.

"One of your close cousins is the result of that," Emery's grandmother said. "A teenage human bride, that is. And you... your father's lifespan should have been looked at. Sooner."

"Well, he's only one-sixteenth Enshanti," Shina pointed out. "Sometimes, we forget the lost ones."

"Yes," Emery's grandmother said, "But Lathey's father should have had his blood triggered once we knew he was family."

"That was after he'd left with Em," Shina argued. "How do we find someone who's got wards against being found?"

"Would that be why Guy got lost trying to get to my house?" Emery asked. It made so much sense.

"You know, I never thought of that," Shina said. "It makes sense, though. Guy's got a complete lack of navigational genes; this really could have made it worse. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole town's covered by an expanding spell. Sometimes humans do botch rituals."

"He gets lost really, really easily, but it makes sense he'd get a bit lost especially in Hayfork," Emery acknowledged.

"Especially with help," Shina said. "Well, we'll call him and warn him. Best he not get lost on the way to getting himself killed."

Emery nodded at that. "That always helps," she said. "I know Mr. Perkins was ready to go take me out of there, but I have no idea when the rest of the hunters will arrive. Maybe the day after tomorrow is when they'll fight."

"Which means," her grandmother said, "The hunters will no doubt arrive today, to be fresh for tomorrow." She examined something that Emery couldn't quite see. "That's when we'll strike, when they're vulnerable. Your father, Lathey, can be captured if he interferes; we'll just render him unconscious until someone can take him to safety."

"Hopefully he'll cooperate," Emery said, but inwardly, she cringed. Her father probably wouldn't cooperate with the Enshanti, even if it was for his own good. He wouldn't understand what it meant like she did. Of course, if an Enshanti told him to surrender, he might do it anyway, just to keep his little girl safe. Especially if put that way. It was too bad, Emery thought, that he wouldn't understand that the Enshanti were the good guys here. He'd probably have to be hit over the head to save him.

On the other hand, maybe he'd cooperate and make everything a whole lot easier on everybody. One never knew.

"He'll cooperate, or he'll face an angry healer," Shina said. "We've got healers on our side, and they *hate* stubborn people, especially stubborn young Enshanti. Which is what your father will be to them." A brief smile lit her features. "A very stubborn young Enshanti who was brainwashed to be on the wrong side. He is, after all, maybe sixty. Just out of his teenage years. Maybe making adult decisions."

"I'm not sure he wants to be treated as a rebellious young adult," Emery said. "There is a certain pride here. He'd rather be treated as someone his age and not a young person."

"We will treat him as he treats us," her grandmother decided. "If he fights, then we will fight back. Of course, we will render him unconscious, but we will fight back if needs be. If he surrenders to us, we'll be gentle to him. Hopefully the fool will surrender."

"I don't know," Emery told her. How would her father react to such a thing? Would he understand what was being done and why it was being done? Or would he test the Elders' patience beyond their limits? She hoped he would be the sensible businessman he was as the head of KentPet Harps.

"We'll have to see," her grandmother said dismissively. "In any case, we will watch out for him, and we will deal with him. That is all that matters."

That was a dismissal, so Emery nodded and stayed quiet. She couldn't defend her father, not here, she could only hope that he would be sensible and go with the kin that he didn't know that he had. If he fought, he might get hurt, even if the Elders and the other Enshanti didn't want to hurt him... much. Her grandmother seemed too honor-bound to kill him, repulsive as he had to have been to her, killing her daughter, Emery's mother.

"I'm going," her grandmother said, getting up. "Lathey, stay here. I don't want to put you in danger before you can get Tested. If you do... well, you get to find out how the healers feel about stubborn young Enshanti as well."

"And she means it," Shina stage-whispered. "You get in the fight, you get hurt, grandma will put you in the hands of the Healer most likely to heal you and then scream at you for being stupid and stubborn. Healers know a lot of swear words - I hear they have plenty of practice using them, with the amount of damage some people manage to get into. I hear that your mother frequently annoyed the healers too."

"Vexed them," Emery's grandmother said. "Vexed them in such a way that some refused to treat her. Because she was so stubborn."

"Well, hopefully Emery won't be quite as stubborn as her mom," Shina said. "You will stay out of danger, won't you, Em? After all, the Hunters aren't going to be overly thrilled about you being on our side."

Emery grimaced. "I, personally, would like to stay out of any fights. Fighting is not my thing. I make harps, not guns or knives."

"Good," her grandmother said. "You'll have to learn to fight someday... but today is not the day. Today, I want you to stay safe so that I don't lose you like I lost your mother to these animals. And those who think they are animals, like your father." Her grandmother sighed and got up. "I'm going to go and meet the other Elders. This cabin will be safe for the two of you, especially with the protection and nondetection rituals I've placed. Please do not move."

Then Emery's grandmother left, with Shina still there. "Somehow, I don't seem privileged enough to participate in anybody's battle plans."

"Well, you are still a teenager, and one we've been looking for for quite some time," Shina pointed out. "We're not going to lose you just after we just found you, of course! You're far too precious to be in battle like the Elders. We'd run you out of Hayfork itself, but... well... just because you're being kept safe here doesn't mean that you're not going to be participating in your own way. It just means that you won't be participating in such a way that you get to meet your first Healer."

"Baby's First Healer, huh?" Emery asked, briefly amused.

"Well, I'm sure you had a Healer watching over your health when you were a baby," Shina corrected. "They're kind of like human doctors, but better. We don't lack for healing power with them. I'm sure your family's Healer will get a good look at you when they're not busy patching up Elders. The Elders just need healers more than you or I do right now."

Emery looked over at Shina. "I would bet so. But the humans of Hayfork? This is my home town."

"Bandaged, healed, made to forget," Shina assured her. "The Healers know humans as well. If they can fix it up, they will, especially in a way that saves the humans - the innocent ones, anyway. We want to make Hayfork better, not kill it. It's a good place. I think the Elders will like it here, too."

"I hope so," Emery said. "This is my home town, after all."

Shina grinned. "And home town it will stay," she promised. "This is a place where humans live, and this will be a place of peace once we get rid of the Hunters. It could be worse, far worse."

"Yeah," Emery said, shuddering at the memory. "I could be being sent off to an Episcopalian Nunnery."

"Somebody has a sense of humor, I guess," Shina said. "Or do they?"

"Mr. Perkins? Have a sense of humor? Please," Emery said. "I'm sure he just wanted me in a place that he can trust that my Enshanti blood can do no harm. Even though holy stuff doesn't affect Enshanti, that seems to be his first instinct when it comes to such things."

Listening to Emery, Shina shook her head. "Amazing. Simply amazing. To think that this man could think that it would do any good. We would have found you again, through their records."

"What records?" Emery asked. "I'm guessing, from what Dad's said, that they're not into recordkeeping, at least records that you can find and use against them."

"True," Shina said, "But we would have found you. Eventually. I promise."

"I'm glad," Emery said, thinking of how little she would have liked being a nun. "I definitely would have hated being a nun."

"Nun? You are so much not a nun," Shina said, "Based on what I've seen and heard tell of you. Your neighbors were very keen to tell me about you, by the way."

Emery nodded. "That's how small towns work. Why the Enshanti will have to be careful...."

"We'll be careful, both getting rid of the Hunters and not alienating your neighbors," Shina promised. "We want you to have a home, not lose your home. Besides, I like it here. Guy likes it here."

"Guy gets lost in a paper bag," Emery said, with amusement. "And Hayfork is deceptive."

"Hayfork might be deceptive," Shina told her, "But I think Guy could grow to not get lost in it. It could be far far worse, Emery."

"I thought for a while," Emery said, "That Guy was romantically interested in me." She sighed. "At least that's how it seemed."

"Well, you're prematurely mature," Shina said. "You fooled him, initially. He does love you... but you need to get about ten years older so that you can be old enough to get married... and then you're still very very young for him. He's not a cradle robber, Emery."

Emery smiled. "I know. But somehow, I just... I...."

"Once you go through the test, Emery, and get old enough, you can marry whoever you like, human or Enshanti. It doesn't matter to us; it just matters that you be happy. It would be an honor to have a harp maker in the family. And it's a something we can fully enjoy."

"A something?" Emery asked, amused.

"I'm gifted," Shina said, "Not perfect." She sipped at some coffee. "We would enjoy a harp maker because quite a few of us are so inclined." She paused. "I don't suppose you would mind being introduced to, say, a violin maker? When you're old enough, that is. There's a family of violin makers, make them by hand, we'd love to pick up a maker or two on that end, too."

Emery laughed at that. "The Enshanti just enjoy collecting people, don't they?"

"Well, it gives a broader family," Shina said. "We like people to be useful. You're useful. You might not feel like you're useful right now, but you're useful. A family of harp makers is a good thing to us."

"Assuming we get Dad to someplace safe," Emery said a bit grumpily.

"He might be stupid," Shina responded, "But we will save him. He's family, and he'd be family even if he didn't have a drop of Enshanti blood in his veins. Your mother would have married him and brought him into the family, but the important thing is that he has the blood. It's just a bit... distant."

"Distant," Wataru said, amused. "Just a bit."

"So," Shina said, changing the subject, "We'll need your knowledge of Hayfork, so I'm going to erect this table and spread out some maps." She retrieved something that kind of looked like a folded picnic table, carrying the object effortlessly, putting it down and unfolding it. "We don't know where the whole showdown is supposed to be, but...."

"I know," Emery volunteered. "Kind of. I overheard some things, even things I wasn't supposed to overhear. I know it's going to be in an unpopulated section, where there are lots of abandoned cabins. There are a lot of those around, but at least they're not on Highway 3 or something like that."

"Abandoned cabins," Shina said thoughtfully. "Well, at least if they hold to that plan, we'll be able to avoid damage as much as possible to the inhabited parts of your town. I'm sure they have another reason for doing what they're doing."

"They might be planning to trap the area," Emery said thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. It's not like they wanted to talk to me about it."

"The Hunters are casting spells or rituals, got it," Shina noted. "At a remote point which has abandoned cabins."

"Right," Emery said. "I have no clue where, though."

"That's okay," Shina said. "We have spells, rituals, things they can't counter. And we've also got contacts who can tell us if they've seen anything unusual." She grinned. "This is where my little talk with the townsfolk comes in handy. I made enough friends when I was here that I think that I can get a lot more information than expected about the plans. Or at least where they are and what they're doing."

"Mr. Perkins was probably going to meet with them while Dad and I worked on harps," Emery said. "It makes sense. He doesn't trust me, even if he's barely even met me."

"Some people are that way, Em," Shina said. "So, let's plan. The action won't be on either of the highways or anything really close to the main drag."

"Right, someplace remote." Emery looked at the pictures, obviously pulled off a mapping site. "This is pretty good, but it's missing a few roads. I hope that isn't a navigational feature."

"Well, no wonder Guy kept getting lost," Shina joked. "He doesn't do well with maps."

"Or anything else navigational," Emery replied, joking back. "If I don't end up dating some violin maker, we can always work on his navigational skills."

"Good luck with that," Shina said. "Now, of course, we'll need to look for back roads. Places where there's a lot of rot. Ideas?"

"Pen, please," Emery told her, reaching out a hand. "I'll mark the most likely places."

"Got it," Shina told her. She pushed the maps forward. "Mark what you can on the maps. We realize they're not perfect, but at least they'll give us a start in planning things."

"Okay," Emery said, taking a pen. "Here, here, and here. These are the most likely places - a lot of abandoned cabins that are rotting and such."

"One of those is very close," Shina said. "We might have to move, just in case the violence spills over. You don't know how to fight back." She sounded vaguely alarmed.

"No," Emery admitted. "I know the basics of self-defense, but...."

"You don't have protection or training or anything like that," Shina finished. "Well, not much we can do about it. Just have to hope they don't come our way, and keep you safe."

"With luck, they'll gather at one of the other places," Emery said. "Far away. Like *this* location." She pointed at the farthest away on the map. "This is good. This is far."

"Very very far," Shina said in approval. "Safe for you. I don't want to have to fight those stupid, stupid Hunters."

"I don't blame you," Emery said, eyebrows raised. "Because they are stupid."

"Very very stupid," Shina responded, studying the map. "Very very very stupid. Very very very very stupid."

"I... think I get the picture," Emery said with some amusement. "They're very stupid, with differing degrees of 'very'."

Snickering, Shina said, "Yes, exactly. I like the way you put it; it allows for differing opinions as to their stupidity."

"Well, I get it from Dad," Emery said honestly. "He has a good idea of degrees of stupidity too, especially in customers. Of course, he didn't think much of Guy even before he knew he was Enshanti. He thought he was stupid too."

"He *was* stupid," Shina said, "But it turned out to be a good thing in the end. Because his stupidity brought us you. Or at least brought us the chance to find you. But he's never going to live down some things about his spacial skills to go with his complete lack of navigational skills."

"I'm glad I was found," Emery said, leaning back. "But I was hoping things would be a bit more... peaceful."

"Can't help it, sometimes, with Hunters," Shina said. "They're just bound and determined to make a mountain out of a molehill. We might kill humans for sustenance, but we try not to be monsters. It's not like humans don't kill each other every day."

"True," Emery said, "But I think one of the things the Hunters might have trouble with is the fact that Enshanti kill humans at all."

"I doubt the Hunters are vegans, so they don't really have the ability to talk about that," Shina said. "The Enshanti try to kill only those who need to be killed. We don't hunt the innocent or the helpless." She gazed at one cabin wall. "The only possible crime is hunting the suicidal. Those... we do out of mercy, and it's a painful decision."

"Hunting the suicidal?" Emery echoed.

"People who are suicidal... and truly suicidal, not the 'I need to be rescued, and this is a cry for help' folks... they want to be saved in their own way. There are Enshanti who see to it that the wishes of suicides be honored, but it's controversial. Some think that we shouldn't be involved in that kind of thing at all... and others who believe that it's our duty to be there for these people. Personally, I wouldn't take the life of a suicidal person, but there are those who will. And some that only take those lives if they're terminally ill. It's not an easy thing to handle, especially for the healthy ones." She sighed. "A lot of the national hotlines are thanks to us... we don't want to hurt those who don't need to be hurt."

Emery stared. "I can't imagine killing someone like that," she said. To kill someone who was suicidal validated their reasons for suicide, she would have thought. It let what made them suicidal win. It seemed like a terrible shame, and she said that to Shina.

"I agree," Shina said, "Which is why I don't do that, and you shouldn't either. I understand the reasons some people have for taking the lives of suicides, but I wouldn't... I couldn't be responsible. I would never be able to tell the difference between a cry for help and someone who has no hope. We don't kill the helpless, and we don't kill the hopeless. I know some kill homeless people, but we also try to fund homeless shelters so that people aren't quite so... homeless. If they are criminals, then yes."

"How do you stay alive?" Emery asked. "That seems so... restricted as a diet."

"Only need to feed once a month plus... the fact that I know that there will always be humans like that out there. There will always be prey for me, thanks to human greed and envy. Of course, you also have to weigh the crimes; if you have a choice between someone who kills their partner out of jealousy and someone who steals to save their family, my advice is the killer, not the robber."

Emery nodded. "I can see that."

"To cut down on our potential prey," Shina said, "We do all kinds of programs. Social programs. Feed the homeless. House them. Give them places to rest, places to store their belongings. Keep people off the streets, drug-free, mentally healthy. Then we go after the people that take advantage of others. That's something we can do for humanity. That way, we pay back for every person we kill. I'd love for us to be known and loved for what we do to keep humanity safe, but that isn't going to happen."

Emery nodded. "I know," she said. "And I appreciate all the Enshanti do for humans. You don't have to go through so much trouble."

"Whatever keeps the humans happy," Shina said. "Can't complain that they're happy. Well, you could, but that would be an odd attitude for a happy Enshanti."

"There's a lot I have to learn about my Enshanti ancestry, it seems," Emery said, relaxing back in her chair. "I don't want to seem like I don't know everything."

"You spent thirty years plus thinking you were full human," Shina said. "You're allowed to be ignorant... at least for a while."

"A while?" Emery asked. She admittedly had no idea what "a while" meant, but she hoped it was a long while.

"Well," Shina said, "Sometime in the next ten years you'll have to get everything straight."

"Ten years." That was a while? Of course, it had to be by Enshanti standards. They had longer lifespans after all.

"Yeah, I know that seems a long time by human years, but it's not that long relative to the lifespan you'll have after you've Tested," Shina said. "You've got a very long life by human standards ahead of you."

"A few centuries, then?" Emery asked.

"Enshanti usually live at least 300 years by human standards, though we actually age very quickly towards the end, and of course, we age at normal human lifespans until we're fully changed, when we get Tested and the Elders change us. Of course, you don't have to be Tested if you don't want, and sometimes, if the child is too weak to be changed, we do what we can. That's what we'll be doing to your father when we get a hold of him. He's aging way too fast - he deserves some of the Enshanti lifespan. Plus, it'll help to have a former Hunter on our side."

Emery ate more. "Yeah," she said. "Let's hope that he becomes a former Hunter."

"Well, it's not like he gave us a chance to explain," her cousin said. "He just kidnapped you and went off. He didn't stay to listen to what we actually were, he just kept fighting his own blood. And then he hid. With you. Your grandmother, for a while, wanted to tear him limb from limb... until someone found out that he was part-Enshanti, too."

"She still doesn't sound too fond of him," Emery observed.

"Well, I don't blame her," Shina said. "I've had teenagers before. Teenagers that went off the deep end, teenagers that had to be fed off of for the good of the community. Some people are irredeemable. We take those people and get rid of them, for the public good. But it's another tough decision. Do you take this life that might be, at most, nineteen, knowing that they might be redeemable? That they might be teachable? But better to take that life then before it causes more problems in the future. Very rarely, we take lives that we might have improved, or lives that someone misjudges as to whether they're redeemable or not. But we try not to let that happen. Opinions differ, obviously. We just have to do what we can to make peoples' lives a bit better. One of our kin was the one who helped found the public library system here in America instead of having the subscription library system, so people could educate themselves. And she was helping a person who several thought irredeemable."

"To save someone... she started the library system?" Emery asked, uncomprehending.

"Yes, to give someone without money access to books... a chance to make themselves a better person. That was a worthy goal, and something that we were so glad to have happen."

"The Enshanti seem so amazing," Emery said. "And yet, hunters hunt you."

"Because they don't understand," Shina told her mournfully. "If they understood, they wouldn't be hunting us, they'd be working with us to make things better. The local legends of vampires don't make things much easier for us, either. Humanity has to have its evil people, its bad guys, its outsiders. Theirs happens to be us. It doesn't matter if we're harmless and that we wouldn't harm them, we eat humans so we're automatically human. Humans are not cattle, but sometimes we need their life energy. The Hunters don't understand that and so they try to kill us for being who we are. It's just like an animal attacks them and they put it down. In some ways, if a human is attacking me and I can't dissuade them... then I will save myself, but if they give up, I let them go. Because their lives are valuable, and they deserve the right to live. Just not at the expense of my own life."

"Self-defense," Emery said softly. "I'm surprised you don't have to defend yourselves more."

"Hunters are a part and parcel of who we are, Emery. And I have to admit, even Enshanti go rogue. And if we go rogue... that's just proof to them that we're evil folks who don't deserve to live. Energy vampires. Monsters. Never mind that we're helpful, they take one example, one bad apple, and use them to 'prove' that we're evil. Which we're not."

"I can see that," Emery said. "It's still... strange to know I'm half-Enshanti."

"The fact that you're half human is not at all unusual. Humans are not cattle, after all, even if we feed off of them. One thing that Enshanti are always brought up to believe is that humans are worth saving. And we've had to destroy Enshanti before who have stopped believing in humans. Which sometimes isn't the Enshanti's fault, but we still have to kill them. One of the reasons we have kids with humans is so that Enshanti have kinship with humans and are not tempted to see them as just food, cattle, entitled to nothing but death. Not all Enshanti marriages are to humans, but I'd say about one out of ten to one out of twenty are."

"And how did Dad end up with Enshanti ancestry? I got the impression that all kids were tested," Emery said.

Shina shrugged. "Probably somebody had a one-night stand with a stranger, nobody found the child, the descendants grew up in an area with no Enshanti, so nobody ever found the children. But now that we know, we can reclaim your father's family line. We can recover the genes, get new ones. He'll be given a longer lifespan and probably imprisoned for breeding for a couple of decades and taught to live as an Enshanti. He can be rehabilitated, we hope. In the meantime, he'll help replace those dead by Hunters. Hunters do kill us, sometimes. We're not all that powerful, especially those who aren't bestials. I sometimes regret not having that extra power."

Her cousin's tone was wistful, and Emery had to wonder how easy it was to kill an Enshanti. It sounded like the Hunters had been preparing for a massive battle, really, which meant that there were either a lot of Elders, or that things were supposed to be really tough and there really weren't that many of them.

"How hard is it to kill one of us?" Emery asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Harder than a human," Shina said evasively. "Being able to drain your opponent is a wonderful thing, and has saved many lives."

"It sounds like it," Emery said, thinking of what usefulness it would have as a defensive measure. It sounded like the Enshanti didn't kill without good cause, and then only reluctantly, and only fed when they needed to.

Shina sipped at her coffee. "And if you go rogue, Emery? We'll stop you. Or try to, at least."

Emery, reassured, relaxed. Over the course of the next three hours, the two of them helped out the Elders by relaying local advice, which meant that Shina talked with them and answered the phone, and Emery gave advice on how to keep from damaging the local area. It sounded like the Hunters were being hard-to-get, striking randomly, as if realizing the Elders were more organized than they thought.

She had some more breakfast - thoughtfully made by Shina - and pondered over the map. In the silence of the moment, she heard a truck park. Or maybe it was a SUV, she didn't know. But in any case, a minute or three later, someone kicked the door with a foot.

"Emery. Duck. Hide." Shina got up, prepared to confront their unwelcome visitors. Emery followed her advice, ducking behind the beds.

The second kick shattered the door, and Emery could hear footsteps. "Well, well, well. We finally get to rescue Kent's little girl, and it turns out she's not so much in need of rescuing," Mr. Perkins' mocking voice rang loud and clear in the silence. "Could have told Kent blood doesn't wash out. Looks like Emery's on her way to full-blown Enshanti."

"It's certainly better than being a Hunter and hating her for something she has no control over." Shina's voice was sure, solid. She wasn't afraid of Mr. Perkins or anybody else, apparently.

Emery wished she could see what was going on, but she decided that it would be better if she just stayed still.

"I don't hate Emery for what she is," Mr. Perkins said. "I've worried about what she might become. And I can see here that she's under no form of restraint."

"Could she be under a spell or something?" another man asked. "You told us-"

"Oh, I have no doubt her mind's been poisoned," Mr. Perkins said. "That she's here of her own free will. Told Kent that this was dangerous. But I gave him a chance."

"In any case," Shina interrupted, "I give you a chance to leave in peace." The words were formal, like a recitation. Probably her giving Mr. Perkins a chance to get out of there before she attacked.

"You really think I'm going to let the two of you go?" Mr. Perkins mocked. "One less energy vampire in the world, and saving Kent's daughter from the sin of taking lives. It's a small price to pay."

"If you do not leave in peace, then I will make sure you do not trouble others," Shina warned. More formal warning. Shina must have felt bound to not harm the man - and whoever else was there - and was giving ample warning about it.

"Ah," Mr. Perkins said, "But you're very outnumbered."

"And you know better," Shina warned. "We're not into murdering the helpless. Our people influenced important people. Educators. Philanthropists. Political people. We got Carnegie interested in knowledge. He went on to found the public library system that exists in this land today. But of course, you would prefer people to be ignorant." Her voice fairly dripped in scorn. "The powerhungry usually do. Keep people from knowing things and then they believe you when you tell them what you want them to hear. They become mindless, relying on superstition, sheep lead to the slaughter. And that's what you want. We at least want to save humans."

"Oh, shut up," Mr. Perkins said. "You want to pretend to help humans so that your kind can feed off of them more! You just do the other things to say that you can!"

"I'm giving you my last warning," Shina said. "Please leave before I hurt you." Emery noticed that she'd dropped the conversation after failing to convince him that he was in the wrong, and marveled at her cousin's steady voice.

"'Please leave before I hurt you,'" Mr. Perkins mocked. "Well, I'm going to hurt you, and I happen to have a shield against you folks. You couldn't kill me if you tried."

Shina sighed. "We'll find out."

"Scotts," Mr. Perkins ordered, "Grab the girl cowering on the floor. Regis, you're with me."

And then Emery heard the scream. And looked up to see a man slump to the ground, turning into dust as if everything holding him together had suddenly collapsed.

But she had no time to think about it as she was roughly hauled up to see Mr. Perkins and Shina. "See, you do kill humans. See, Emery? They're not worth protecting, these so-called 'kin' of yours. In the style of this lady, however, I'll let you have one more chance to rejoin humanity and reject that heritage of yours. You see how she killed Regis, even though he didn't attack her?"

"Only because I had to," Shina objected. "And if you don't leave and let go of Emery, then I will find out if your protections are as good as you think they are."

Mr. Perkins laughed. "I had an expert weave these protections. They should stand up to an Elder, they'll easily stand up to one weak woman."

"We'll find out," Shina seethed. "If you don't let Emery go."

Emery struggled. She wasn't going with Mr. Perkins. Jerking forward, she tried to get out of the other man's grasp.

"One energy vampire, soon to be dead, and Kent's baby daughter, saved. Not bad for an afternoon. And after that, we'll kill more Elders."

"No you won't," Shina said, "Because your madness ends here and now." She glared at Mr. Perkins. "I know of you, Lawrence Perkins. I know of your ways, and I know of your delusions. And the world is tired of both. You've had a death sentence on you for a long time, but out of the kindness we always show humans, I chose to let you be if you'd let us be. But if anybody is going to die today, it's you."

"Just try me," Mr. Perkins said confidently.

"Very well," Shina told him. "You were warned, and you chose not to give up your insane ways. So, Lawrence Perkins, you will meet your death today."

She concentrated, and the room was dead silent for about half a minute. "I can't... how?"

Mr. Perkins laughed. "I told you, I had this shield made to save me from Elders. You are nothing. And now... you die."

"No!" Emery said, jerking forward. The man behind her lost hold, grabbed something. She choked as the necklace pressed against her neck. Coughing, grasping for air, she stared at Mr. Perkins. Then she tried to jerk forward again. She wouldn't let Shina die first; she would find a way to save her cousin.

Without warning, the chain of the necklace broke, propelling her forward, into Mr. Perkins. She stared at him for a second, grabbing him for balance. After a second, she realized that he was looking at her in horror.

"You won't kill Shina," Emery said. And she meant it, even though she had no idea on how to save her cousin or anything useful like that.

Mr. Perkins gasped, turning pale.

"You will leave. Now! Before I kill you." Emery wasn't sure where any of this was coming from, other than instinct. But she wasn't going to have any more people die, if she could help it.

Maybe she was more Enshanti than anybody thought.

"Leave. Now." She repeated the words with more force. She remembered what tone Shina had given. She tried to replicate it. "I don't want you to die."

Mr. Perkins snorted. "You can't kill me either," he said with confidence. "I'm afraid I'll just have to kill you first and explain things to Kent later."

"Or I can explain things to him," she said. "Because I probably can't kill you, no. I'm not a killer and I'm not planning to be. But I would rather be with *her* than with you."

"So, what are you going to do, Emery?" Mr. Perkins asked. "Become a traitor to humanity? Or will you listen and let me go?"

Emery took a step back. "If you can believe in peace and leave Hayfork, then I'll try to be the best person I can be. I am the daughter of Kent Peters."

"You know," Mr. Perkins said, "Kent was quite distraught when he found out he'd fathered a baby on an Enshanti. I was the one who listened to him, and I was the one who comforted him. I was the one who agreed to help save his baby girl, no matter how I felt about it. Kent would be ashamed of you right now, don't you think? He tried to save you from this life, and you instead throw it back in his face."

"No," Emery said. "You took me from my home, from my mother, from someone who *loved* me. You fooled my father, you fed him lies, you made him believe my mother was evil! If you'd only listened, you'd know better. You'd not be killing people just because you hated them." She took a deep breath. "What made you hate, Mr. Perkins?"

"It's not hate," he said. "It's love. Love for my fellow humans. Love for their lives." He looked her in the eyes. "Now, I have to kill you to save you."

"And I... I won't let you kill any more people," Emery said. "Go away, Mr. Perkins." She felt sick, as if she was going to throw up. And then determination filled her. He would go away now. He would not trouble anyone anymore. She glared at him, trying to stare him down.

Suddenly, Mr. Perkins' form blazed with light, and he was gone. Dust filled the place where he had been. Emery was vaguely aware of the other man suddenly deciding that discretion was the better part of valor and running out of there.

"What happened?" she asked, confused.

"Well, I'd say that you just manifested as an Enshanti," her cousin said. "I'm not sure if you just dusted him, or if he's in the care of one of the Elders." She stared out the broken-down door.

"Dusted him? Killed him, you mean?" Emery asked, still staring at the space where Mr. Perkins had been.

"Yeah," Shina told her. "I'm sure the Elders want a piece of him, and it's good for you not to kill someone like that, not before you've learned control." She took a deep breath. "You're going to be very powerful as an Enshanti, Emery. In fact, you might not need the tests, you might just need to have your aging fixed and to be taught control." She stepped towards the table. "Your father is going to be bred for sure, if he turns out powerful Enshanti like you."

Emery was suddenly shaking, and sat down heavily on the nearest flat surface, which was one of the beds. "Why me?"

Shina shrugged before walking around to sit down on the other bed. "Because you're you." She put a hand on Emery's shoulder. "I'll call the Elders. See if they know where he's gone."

"I hope I didn't destroy him," Emery said, starting to shake a little. Her cousin patted her on the shoulder.

"I'm going to call one of the Elders - your grandmother would probably be best - and have them keep an eye out for Mr. Perkins," Shina said. "And then we're getting out of here."

"Good idea," Emery said, feeling a little out of it. Had she blown away Mr. Perkins? Had she killed someone by accident?

She hoped not. Shina didn't seem to think so, however, so that was encouraging. If Shina didn't think she'd killed Mr. Perkins, then she probably hadn't.

"Hello," Shina was saying to someone on the other end of the line. "This is Shina. We just had an encounter with the Hunters - Lawrence Perkins and two men named Regis and Scotts, to be exact." She listened for what seemed to be a while. "No, we're fine. I dusted one of them. The other ran. Mr. Perkins... well... we're not sure." She listened some more. "Well, let's just say that Emery - Lathey, yes I know her name is Lathey - is very powerful. Unfortunately, when she was defending herself, well, he disappeared in a glow of light, and I don't know if he was dusted, disintegrated, or running about someplace on this Earth, screaming his head off. Oh, glow of light is a teleportation? Oh, good. Em - Lathey - will be relieved. But someone better check the Peters household. Naked? Are you ki- I guess you're not. Sorry. But now would be a good time to get that disgusting man to somewhere he can't hurt innocent people." She paused once more. "Thank you. Yes, Em and I are going to leave shortly. Out of town? We can do that. Which way? Redding? Oh, you said *Peanut*. Yes, I've heard of it. Thanks. We'll be on our way."

She stopped the connection and looked at Emery. "Well, your grandmother says that she does think it's teleportation that you did - and she's very, very impressed. Nobody on her - your side of the family from her - has that. Your father is indeed going to be very very popular."

"I can imagine," Emery said politely. She might have condemned her father to be bred, but at least it was better than death.

"Oh, and your grandmother? Says that Mr. Perkins is likely to arrive at his destination naked." The corner of Shina's lip twitched up in a smile. "It takes a while to master teleportation, apparently. But he should be safe, unless you teleported him into a chair or something."

"Given my place? He's probably in the harp workshop, that's what I'm most familiar w- my harps!" Emery jumped in alarm. "What if he tries to destroy KentPet Harps?"

"Oh, I'm sure they have someone watching the place," Shina reassured her. "Don't worry, Em. Things will be okay." She took a breath. "The Elders have power limiters too, like your necklace. I'm sure you can be fitted with one if you want. If you don't feel comfortable. But don't worry. You did good. You did very very good."

Emery was still staring at the space where Mr. Perkins had been. "I wonder if he knew how powerful I was," she breathed.

"I'm betting so," Shina said. "The man isn't stupid, after all. You are Enshanti. Apparently from two powerful bloodlines, albeit one that's very diluted. You would have always been something to be controled in his frame of mind. I'm just glad your father has sense - most of the time - and he learned - will learn, someday - to reject the man's stupidity."

"I wonder if he was planning to kill me all the time." It was a disturbing thought. Sure, he'd 'saved' her once upon a time, when she was a baby, but apparently babies turn into little kids who turn into bigger kids, who turn into teenagers and adults. And apparently, sometimes the children turn out to be very powerful Enshanti.

"In any case," Shina said, "We still don't know where you teleported the man - he could be anywhere. Absolutely anywhere."

Emery nodded. "Anywhere," she echoed. That was somehow disturbing, that she could send someone away, possibly far away. Or maybe he was still in Hayfork, somewhere.

Shina turned off the camp stove. "Can't move the gear, for the most part," she said. "Can grab the sleeping bags and the food and the stove. Once the Elders have found him, we'll be a lot safer. If we don't... well, I hope Peanut is a nice place to stay."

"It's very small... and this is from someone who *lives* in a small town, mind you," Emery said. "My top choice would have been Redding. Peanut's way too small, I've been there."

"Elders' orders," Shina reminded her. "Help me roll up these sleeping bags, then we'll head to Peanut."

"Right," Emery said. "Off to Peanut we go." She wasn't enthralled by it, but she was sure the Elders had their reasons.

The two of them tied up the sleeping bags, tossing them in the back of the truck, along with the camp stove, and then they took off.

"I'm still hoping they find him soon," Emery said. "I don't want him to re-form the Hunters."

"Em," Shina said, "There will always be hunters. Hunters because people don't understand. Hunters because humans are sometimes idiots."

"I guess so," Emery admitted. "I guess it's easier to close your mind and not think."

"Or convince people that everything is okay and they don't have to think," Shina responded. "Xenophobia. Xeno, strange, foreign. Phobia, fear of. Fear of the strange, of the unknown. To them, we are the unknown. Something to be feared, something to be hunted."

"Did someone scare him long ago?" Emery asked.

"As far as I know, he saw someone dusting a criminal and... went from there," Shina said. "He was always of a religious bent, he just took it too far. And he became an enemy. Recruited others. Caused yet another Hunter group to happen." She sighed. "Like they always do. Don't blame yourself for what happened here today. Never do that."

"If they threatened Hayfork...." It would be all too easy to give into the hate.

"If they threatened Hayfork, then the Enshanti would hurt them to save the other humans," Shina told her. "This is what we do. We are not the humans' servants, but we are their protectors, even if they don't realize it."

"Right."

Suddenly, the windshield cracked in a million places, and Shina swerved. She stopped the truck abruptly. "Okay, Em. I think we have ourselves some Hunters." She tossed the cellphone at Emery. "You, call your grandmother. I'm going to throw a shield around me and dust the idiot."

"Right," Emery said, clumsily handling the phone. "Be safe."

She wondered if she could do what she did once more and make her cousin safe. But she had no clue on how to use her new powers, and she would probably be of little use to Shina, who was used to such things. She hoped no Hunters broke into the car as Shina locked the doors remotely.

Leaving her cousin to fight the Hunters, she dialed her grandmother's number from the speed dial. "Hello, this Shina?"

"This is Em... Emery," Emery said, hoping no shots would be fired at her. "We've been attacked, presumably by Hunters. Shina's outside the truck cab, I'm inside. Windshield's shattered."

"You're all right?" her grandmother asked in concern.

"Yes, I'm fine, if a bit scared," Emery said in total honesty. "It's Shina I'm worried about. She said something about a shield, but I'm not sure if it's going to be enough if those are Hunters out there."

"Where are you, dear?" Emery's grandmother asked. "What does the GPS say?"

"Old Brownstone Road. I saw the Robbins' home - that's 1555 - shortly before the windshield blew." Shina wished she could tell the woman more.

"Somewhere around 1555 Robbins Road?" her grandmother asked.

"1555 Old Brownstone," Emery said, trying to enunciate her words. "It... it's...."

"Don't worry, Lathey," her grandmother said. "I just met you, I'm not going to lose you to some idiots with guns." She took a breath. "I know you don't know much about controlling your powers quite yet, so here's something simple for you."

"Simple, got it," Emery said, finding that she had an urge to repeat everything that her grandmother was saying, and resolving to quash that stupidity.

"Yes. I want you to imagine that you're made of rock. Rock doesn't move on its own, but it is tough. Tough enough to repel a lot of things. You are that rock. You are solid and heavy and hard to hurt. If you stay like the rock, then the world can't hurt you.

"Right. I am the rock." Emery could imagine herself as an Emery-shaped boulder. It was an amusing image, actually. She was tightening herself into a ball, smoothing the stone, letting the stone harden around her form. She couldn't move, but she felt protected. Safe. Because she was tough, and nobody could destroy her if she didn't let them.

"Are you getting that, dear? Good." Her grandmother's voice was calming. "Stay the rock, Lathey. Be the rock. Don't move until we come and make you a person again."

"A rock... I'm a rock." It was easier to stay like this, safe.

"That's my granddaughter! Now, stay there and we'll get you both to safety as soon as possible."

Emery nodded numbly. "Be here soon, grandmother." It seemed strange to call the woman "grandmother" since she'd known her for such a long time, but she wasn't sure what the woman's given name was, either the Enshanti version or the human one.

"I will. Stay safe, Lathey." On the other hand, her grandmother seemed unwilling to use her human given name, which her father had apparently given her. Well, she was allowed her dislike of Emery's father, the most important thing was that the family would be together. Someday, her father would be accepted into Enshanti society, where he would learn that the Enshanti were good folks... most of them, anyway. She had no doubt that it would be explained over and over to him that those committing murders, many murders, were the rogues. Every civilization had those who couldn't follow civilized life, and the Enshanti were no exception.

She let the feeling of *rock* stay within her mind, hoping that she would stay unnoticed and safe. After all, she was not going to be able to fight very easily; Shina did have the power to do that, but Emery was still untrained in her powers, so all she could do was think "rock" over and over and over and hope that someone would get there soon.

And eventually, somebody did, for she heard shouting. Then something flew onto the top of the truck, landing neatly with a very loud, angry thump. Emery had to wonder what was going on, but she dared not see who had landed up there.

The phone rang again. "Okay, Lathey. I'm told there should be Elders at your location. Keep thinking you're a rock, okay honey?"

"I know somebody landed on top of the cab," Emery said. "Hopefully one of the hunters?"

"Let me find out. Stay still, Lathey. We'll be back to you as soon as possible." So, Emery stayed still, listening to the screaming and the yelling. She wondered if everything was being hidden from the ordinary people of Hayfork, or if the locals - her neighbors and friends - were getting curious. This might be hard to explain if they were.

"Hey, that man is naked!" she heard a voice yell. After a moment, her heart dipped when she recognized the voice of Amy Lawson, one of the neighbors down that way. "And what are you all-"

Amy's question was abruptly cut off, though Emery didn't know how or why. She hoped the woman was alive and kicking. It would really be bad if someone died.

And then things were silent.

The door of the truck opened. "Em? It's safe, we got him," Shina's voice filtered through and Emery looked up to see her cousin looking at her from the open door. "You can dissolve the shield now."

"Shield? Oh." She felt something collapse. "That shield?"

Shina laughed. "Yes, that shield. That's pretty impressive."

"So, what happened? How's Amy?" Somehow her neighbor's health was as important as everything else.

"Amy looks to be just fine," Shina said. "She's unconscious, but she's okay. We'll have a healer out here as soon as possible, to heal her injuries and to make sure she's all right." She smiled reassuringly at Emery. "The Healer will be taking care of all of us, really. And she's not going to be too happy."

Emery nodded. "Right. Not that I want to sound like I don't trust you, but could you take me to Amy, please?"

"No offense taken, that's how we all are with our humans," Shina said. "Here, let me help you out."

Emery moved forward painfully as Shina helped her out. "Thanks."

"No problem," Shina said. "I'm sure that shield took a lot out of you, as well as what you did with Mr. Perkins and that teleport."

"We don't even know where Mr. Perkins is," Emery said mournfully. "He could still be a danger to us."

Shina laughed. "Well, he's unconscious and *very* naked," she said. "The Elders are putting him into custody as we speak." She led Emery to where Amy was unconscious. "See, she's all right."

Emery limped over to where Amy lay, checking her pulse and breathing. "I guess she is, but I was worried."

"I was worried, too," Shina said, "But she seems to be all right and everything."

"Will she remember this?" Emery asked. If she did, then the whole Enshanti business venture was probably sunk.

"Well, the healer will fix her remembering it," Shina told her. "Let's get you sitting down somewhere. You need the rest."

"I wasn't the one that was in a duel," Emery protested, though she let Shina lead her back to the cab. "You're of more need of help than I am."

"True, but I have years and years on you," Shina said. "And I'm an adult. You're not."

"Speaking of adults," Emery said, "Does anybody know where my Dad is?"

"Probably someone's trying to find him," Shina told her, leaning against the door. "He might not take to well to being rescued by the Enshanti, but he'll have to live with it. We are his people and he needs to get used to that." She looked beyond Emery, to some point in space. "If he can."

"He will," Emery said confidently. "He's my Dad. He's not stupid. Most of the time."

"Most of the time," Shina repeated. "I'm sure if he's harmed anyone he'll be tried for that as well, but for his sake I hope that he stayed out of it."

"Do you really see Mr. Perkins letting him fight?" Emery asked. She doubted he would, just because her father was tainted with knowing her mother and fathering her. "I really don't think so. Dad's probably in the workshop, making harps and being a communications relay point or something like that. Or maybe Mr. Perkins didn't trust him at all and he's just in the workshop."

"We're checking on that," an unfamiliar voice said, a woman with hair just turning grey. "I'm hoping he will so that I have one less person to patch up."

"Emery," Shina said, "Here is the healer." She stopped leaning against the door, stepping away as if to allow access to Emery. "My lady healer, here is your patient."

"Hm," the woman said, touching Emery's wrists. "Good shape physically, a couple of minor wounds, but in better shape than most people today. A little low on energy, though - find someone to feed her."

"I have the energy, so I'll feed her," Shina said. "Em, you're just about to be fed for the first time since you were a baby." She started grinning ear to ear. "I know this'll be an experience."

"But what about Amy?" Emery asked. "She probably needs help more than I do."

"Amy?" the Healer asked, frowning.

"Healer Ansana," Shina said, "She's referring to the human over by the side of the road who needs checking over. She almost ran into one of our battles, and we need to make sure she's all right and forgetful."

"Ah," the Healer said. "Already thinking of the helpless ones first. Your father raised you well." She paused. "It was your father, right?"

Emery nodded. "This is what Dad taught me. Somewhat surprising, probably, but he's the one who taught me to be compassionate. Biblical thing."

"Then some Enshanti instinct has survived in him, too," the Healer said. "Hopefully he will be in one piece... not that we won't give him the best of care, of course. Mercy is a very effective weapon for the winning side."

"Partly," Emery said, not daring to move. "But it's a human thing as well. I learned it in church, too."

"Some truths are universal," Healer Ansana said. "It's too bad that some humans - for that matter, some Enshanti - have yet to learn that very important lesson." She folded her arms. "If you'll get fed, then I'll go and tend to your human, and the Elders that came to your rescue."

"Thank you, Healer Ansana," Emery said, wondering if she should bow.

"And then, hopefully, this stupid fight will be over," Healer Ansana said. "I always hate it when people don't know when to stop fighting. Especially when it comes to not stopping in order to get healed. Idiot warriors. I suppose that some of the Hunters will need fixing up as well." She stood up straight. "Well, nothing to be done, but to heal the bystander and some of the more idiot Elders."

She left without a farewell, leaving Emery to stare after her. Shina leaned forward. "See?" she said. "That wasn't too bad, was it?"

"Only because I wasn't seriously wounded," Emery said. "Are all Healers like that?"

"Pretty much, yes," Shina said. "Well, let's get you fed, before she comes back to grumble at us not taking care of ourselves."

Feeding turned out to be a simple proposition, once Shina explained it to her. All she had to do was sit there while Shina fed energy to her body. "I dusted one of the Hunters," Shina explained. "I'm a bit depleted because I was fighting with them, but I'm okay. And now you're okay."

"It seems like we're all mostly okay," Emery said. "But I'll be glad when this entire nightmare is over."

"Soon, I hope," Shina told her. "Though how we're supposed to make people not notice my windshield is shattered, I don't know."

"We'll have to get it out of the way," Emery said. "I guess we push it?"

Shina laughed. "Or we get an Elder to teleport the damn thing."

"Well, we could do that, too," Emery said, abashed. "I'm not used to this sort of thing, remember?"

"Pushing would work," Emery's grandmother said, walking to where they could see her, "Except time is of the essence. Teleporting it is, and hoping your friend doesn't think anything's wrong. Healer Ansana will do the best that she can, but human memory is always interesting to deal with...."

"Time is always of the essence unless we get lucky," Shina said. "Come on, let's get out of the truck so the Elders can 'port it somewhere."

Emery got up. "That sounds good to me. I have no clue on how to teleport, yet."

"Nor would you be expected to," her grandmother told her. "Things will come in good time, Lathey, and that will start with testing... not that we think you need it. But it would be good to know your power so that we can guide you correctly."

"Emery? Are you all right?" Guy rushed up, apparently having come in to the party a bit late. "How are you doing? Were you injured? Did *that man-*"

"Healer's pronounced me fine," she said, with some amusement. "I probably need a bit of rest and some energy, but there are others in far worse condition."

He nodded. "I was worried," he said. "Especially when I heard through someone that the Hunters were going to try to spirit you away from us again."

"Well, they *tried*," she said, "But I came out okay. Don't worry about me." Yes, she was tired, but yes, things could have been so so worse. "Grandmother was watching over me, in a figurative sense."

"Lathey, it seems, has inherited the ability to apport," her grandmother said proudly to Guy. "You're going to have quite a wife in a few decades." She looked at him. "When she's old enough."

"I'm just sorry I missed the action. And you, apporting? Wow. You're going to be a powerhouse when fully trained, Emery." Guy was looking at her in awe. "I wish I could have been here for you, though."

"You were here in spirit," Emery said. "That's all that matters." That's all that did matter, really. "Now I have powers I need to learn to use. Probably will take a decade or two to get them all right."

"I'll wait for you," Guy promised. "It's so good to see you're safe. I would have been here sooner, but... I broke another GPS."

Emery facepalmed. "Guy...." He got so unbelievably lost.

"Can't help it, I think it's just who I am." Guy smiled. "I really should buy stock in a GPS firm."

"You should," she said automatically. "You'll need it."

"If you two promise to not make out in the car," Emery's grandmother said, "I'll leave you to your fun."

"Thanks, grandma," Emery said, and her grandmother smiled, no doubt off to confer with the other Elders. She wondered if she'd live long enough to be an Elder some day. She seemed to have the potential. She wondered how old one had to be before one was considered and Elder, and decided that she didn't have to know.

"You're from an amazing family, Emery," Guy said. "I can't wait for you to grow up."

"I *am* in my mid-thirties," Emery pointed out. "In human years." Being considered an early teen might prove to be a little annoying. She wondered how old she'd have to be before she was fully adult. "Full-blown adult here, Guy."

"Yeah, by human standards," he teased. "Don't worry. It won't be long before the Elders have your aging fixed and then you can gain some respect. And what's a decade and a half among friends? It's just... you're going to be a teenager for a bit longer than you expect, Emery."

"I know, I know," Emery said. "There could be worse things."

"Much, much worse things," Guy agreed. "You could be halfway to... being a nun, I've heard?"

Emery blushed. "Yes, that's what Mr. Perkins had in mind," she said, groaning a little at the thought.

"Well, you're safe now," Guy said. "And we'll mop up what we can... I don't think the natives noticed."

"You never know," Emery said. "This is a small town. People ride horses to the post office around here."

"Hey, I've lived in small towns," Guy told her. "If this whole thing didn't go unnoticed, then we're going to make sure it did. Healers are wonderful things."

Emery nodded. She rather doubted that it was as easy as Guy thought it was, but she was willing to bet that it wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, either.

"I'd like to find Dad," Emery said. "I don't know how he is."

"Let me find out for you," Guy said. "Somebody's got to know."

He left, and Emery was stuck waiting once more. She wondered if she was going to spend her whole life waiting.

"He's fine," Guy said, returning after a few minutes. "He's in custody; you want me to drive you back - oh, wait."

Emery laughed. "You'll have me in the passenger's seat. We'll be fine. Where is he?"

"Your place," Guy told her. "We thought it was the safest place for him, and it's a sign of goodwill."

Emery thought about that. "He's still kind of Hunterish, but...."

"But he's also one of us." Guy leaned against the door. "Want to come with me?"

So, with permission, the two of them drove to KentPet Harps, the middle-aged woman in the driveway nodding a hello at him. "Amazing, he *doesn't* get lost for once...."

"Emery, this is Sisiya," Guy said, introducing her. "She's an Elder. Sisiya, this is Emery Peters - Lathey. She's come to see her Dad."

"Andra's watching over him," Sisiya said, jerking her head in that direction. "Go on in - Andra's a Healer and she'll knock him unconscious if he's not careful."

Guy nodded. "Come on, Emery," he said. "Let's go see your Dad."

Emery stepped forward nervously. "I hope he wants to see me," she said.

"Eh, he will," Guy said. "You are his daughter, after all."

Emery looked up at him, and then walked into the house. Her father was sitting at the couch, sipping his coffee. That didn't bode well, but if the Healer sitting across from him had objections, she wasn't saying anything. That had to be Andra. She had long, braided hair and a serious expression on her face, as if he was in trouble. Which, of course, he was.

"Dad?" She hoped he would still acknowledge her as his daughter.

"Emery," he said tiredly. "Are you all right?" He sipped at his coffee some more. "The Enshanti are very kindly making sure I stay alive."

"Though that coffee isn't good for him," the Healer noted. "But... if he wants to drink it, it's a small comfort."

"Yeah, he's not supposed to, doctor's orders, but...." Emery sat down. "Dad. Do you still want to acknowledge me as your daughter?" She steeled herself. He hadn't wanted her to be Enshanti, but if he loved her, he'd live with what she was. "I'll understand if you don't...."

"Well, of course you're my daughter. I wish you hadn't sided with these folks, Emery, but you're an adult now and you can make your own mi- decisions." He rubbed the corners of his eyes. "I hope you wanted this, Emery."

"I don't think I can deny what I am, Dad," Emery said. "Besides, whatever faults the Enshanti have - and I'm sure they'd be the first to admit that they're not perfect - they never hated me for what I was. Besides you, how many humans who know the truth would be able to love me for being both human and Enshanti?"

"A lot," the Healer said, coming into the conversation, "But not the Hunters. Those who know us and accept us."

"Thanks for answering for me," her father said roughly. "I admit, some are fooled by their partners, but I would hope most of them love their part-Enshanti children."

"Much more than you think," the Healer countered. "Much more than you think."

"In any case," her father said, "They've told me that I have to stand trial for my crimes, but they want to make sure KentPet continues."

"That would be a kinder fate than some," Emery said. "You were apparently very important to Mom. She loved you, Dad."

"I really doubt it," her father told her. "But I will admit that I cried after I killed her."

The Healer frowned. Guy was frowning too. "Dad, you mourn her death."

"Well, that was because I loved her," her father said. He sighed. "And nothing will change that." He looked up at her, haunted. "You'll have to run KentPet Harps now, Emery. I'll be dead."

"Only if you don't stop drinking that sludge you call 'coffee'," the Healer muttered.

"Dad...." Emery wished she could make him believe that he would live. That he was family to these people, too, and they pitied him for what choices he'd made. But there wasn't much more that she could say that he probably wouldn't dismiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, little one." He drank his coffee, and then held out the cup. "Could you make me more?"

Despite the Healer's mutterings, she did make him more coffee. He wanted some, after all.

There was little indication much of anything had happened in Hayfork. Some people reported some druggies going and arguing with one another, one cabin had caught on fire, but nobody was sure exactly what had happened. Which suited Emery and the others quite fine. Shina was starting to make phone calls to businesses to have them settle in Hayfork, making it a much better town, with some of the Elders pitching in, apologizing to Emery for what damage had been done. All in all, the town was settling down, and with the help of the Enshanti, would become better. Because the Enshanti had made the promise, and the Enshanti kept their promises.


End file.
